You can’t make this up. Cosmetics giant Estee Lauder Companies has reportedly brought in CBRE to advise it on whether it should remain at its longtime headquarters, the General Motors Building.
The firm currently occupies almost 300,000 square foot at Boston Properties’ 50-story, 1.8 million square foot office tower, located at 767 Fifth Avenue in Midtown. It maintains offices on the 37th through 43rd floors, as well as the 45th and 46th, according to CoStar.
Estee Lauder was one of the building’s earliest tenants. Other tenants there include Icahn Enterprises, Perella Weinberg, the New York Observer reported.
Back in 2013, Sungate Trust, a group representing Chinese developer Zhang Xin and Brazilian banker Moise Safra, paid $1.4 billion for 40 percent of the building, valuing it at about $3.4 billion, the country’s most expensive office property at the time. A group including the sovereign wealth funds of Kuwait and Qatar and Dubai-based private equity firm Meraas Capital owns the remainder.
The building’s 2008 sale to Harry Macklowe was chronicled in Vicky Ward’s “The Liar’s Ball.” [NYO] – Ariel Stulberg