Stellar Management is close to signing the biggest tenant yet to its flashy Soho office-and-retail redevelopment project.
MAC Cosmetics is in late-stage negotiations to take roughly 80,000 square feet of office space at the developer’s 768,000-square-foot One Soho Square property, sources told The Real Deal.
The Estée Lauder Companies subsidiary is likely to take several floors in the lower portion of the building, plus part of the all-glass penthouse space Stellar is adding on top of 233 Spring Street, also known as One Soho Square West.
Asking rents for the penthouse spaces are $125 per square foot, while the lower floors are asking in the high $80s per square foot.
Representatives for Stellar [TRDataCustom] and MAC couldn’t be immediately reached for comment. A CBRE team led by Stephen Siegel is representing MAC. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank brokers Brian Waterman, Andrew Peretz, David Malawer, Brent Ozarowski and Courtney Adham are handling leasing at the project. Siegel declined to comment and the Newmark brokers couldn’t be reached.
The deal would be the biggest to date since the Larry Gluck-helmed development firm bought the two loft buildings at 233 Spring and 161 Avenue of the Americas, now known as One Soho Square East, for $200 million in 2012.
Asking rents around that time were about $35 per square foot, according to CoStar Group. Stellar, along with partner Rockpoint Group, launched a plan to modernize and connect the two buildings by constructing a 19-story glass core, adding amenities like a half-acre rooftop garden and building three new penthouse floors on top of the western building.
Earlier this year, Stellar bought out Rockpoint’s 40 percent interest in the property in a deal that valued the project at $650 million.
The developers first signed eyewear retailer Warby Parker to 54,000 square feet back in 2013.
In March Stellar announced the office-management platform Managed by Q inked a deal for 26,000 square feet, and in August consulting firm DoubleVerify signed a five-year, 32,000-square-foot deal.
MAC launched a line of makeup honoring the late singer Selena in late September. It was so popular that $259 sets were listed on eBay for north of $3,000.