Facebook founder Marck Zuckerberg may have just bought a townhouse in the West Village. The three-story bricktownhouse located at 157 West 12th Street was anonymously bought under an LLC, The Observer said. However, the name of the deed is Tom van Loben Sels, a partner at the Palo Alto-based tax-consulting firm Apercen Partners LLC. In the past, van Loben Sels has assisted Zuckerberg with his insane money. It's possible that he assists other Silicon Valley guys with insane money, The Observer notes.
According to New York Curbed, the townhouse though it wasn't even on the market, was previously sold for $3.4 million in 2004. But $3.4 million isn't cool. What is cool is $22.3 million (which is how much the anonymous buyer reportedly paid for the property).
The Observer added, a mysterious buyer of the townhouse at 157 West 12th Street purchased the property for $22.3 million, and a number of signs point to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg or someone else in his clan. The townhouse was bought from one Zurich-based Michael P. Stewart, presumably the Michael P. Stewart of Zurich-based UBS AG.
Several clues suggest that the buyer is none other than Mark Zuckerberg. The deed is signed by Tom van Loben Seles, manager of an LLC, who registered a different LLC that Mr. Zuckerberg used when he purchased his historic Palo Alto house in 2011. Mr. van Loben Sels is the registered agent for Mr. Zuckerberg's Openness Foundation.
Mr. van Loben Sels also helped Mark Zuckerberg's sister, Randi Zuckerberg sell her Los Altos home for $6.5 million this June, where she got over a million more than the asking price of $5.49 million. This might mean also that the buyer of the West Village townhouse is Ms. Zuckerberg, who was rumored to be moving back to the city after selling her California residence.
If the mystery buyer is Mr. Zuckerberg, he'll be near to the $20 million West 10th Street townhouse owned by former Facebook president Sean Parker.