Sioni Group Acquires 38 West 21st Street in Flatiron District for $31M
By Mark Hallum June 29, 2026 12:45 pm
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New York City-based real estate investment and development firm Sioni Group has acquired a 12-story office building in Manhattan’s Flatiron District for $31 million, according to city records.
Sioni, which operates a mostly housing portfolio, purchased 38 West 21st Street from Jack Vogel Associates, according to a Monday deed filing in property records. Jack Vogel Associates has owned the property since 1968.
Marci Kaufman, who signed the deal on behalf of Jack Vogel Associates, could not be reached for comment. Payman Yadidi of Sioni Group signed the deal for the buyer, records show.
BKREA‘s Bob Knakal represented the seller in the transaction alongside Faraz Cheema and Ryan Candel. BKREA listed the 1908-built property within the Ladies’ Mile Historic District as a candidate for office-to-residential conversion.
But while office-to-residential may be an option, demand for office may finally be winning out over the trend, according to Knakal.
“For four or five months, every single buyer wanted to do a residential conversion, and for the last three weeks of marketing we had five office investors that kept leapfrogging over each other, and it ended up getting very, very advantageous for the seller because of that competition,” Knakal told Commercial Observer.
“The lesson from it is that the meaty part of the bell curve in terms of office-to-residential conversion is in the rearview mirror at this point,” Knakal added. “That’s not to say they still won’t go on — office-to-residential conversions have been around for decades and will continue to be around for decades — but the highest volume within that space is behind us now.”
Sioni Group was one of those buyers looking to keep the building as office and will be renovating it as such, according to Knakal.
Sioni Group, which also operates as Sioni Capital, acquired the building on 21st Street between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas with a $21 million loan from Valley National Bank, property records indicate.
Sioni Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Between positive absorption and these conversions, we’ve gotten from 20 percent vacancy to about a 12 percent vacancy, and that is getting close to equilibrium,” Knakal said. “Activity in the office sector has picked up very considerably.”
It’s unclear if the building is leased to any office or retail tenants.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.
