Because They’re Worth It: Estee Lauder Signs Deal at Former Marc Ecko Space

Much of the building had been leased by the apparel empire of designer and entrepreneur Marc Ecko until his business nearly collapsed during the economic downturn. Ecko has since left the property, but the building’s landlords, a partnership between the Cohen, Roos and Carmel families, has been successful in filling the vacancy left behind.

The online advertising company AppNexus signed on in recent months for the building’s entire fourth floor. Another deal is reportedly close to getting signed with an as-yet unnamed tenant on the second floor. Both the second and fourth floors are also around 66,000 square feet in size.

Last year the online marketing company Big Fuel Communications took about 40,000 square feet at the property. Big Fuel has since been acquired by the media and advertising company Publicis.

The building at 28-40 West 23rd Street is well known in Flatiron District for the large Home Depot store is has on its base floors.

The building’s office space have clearly benefited from the uptick in activity in Midtown South as tenants have increasingly warmed to the aesthetics and feel of the area’s older stock of office properties.

With the building almost fully occupied, the owners of 28-40 West 23rd Street have considered tacking on additional space on top of the property.

In recent weeks, Michael Cohen, an owner of the property and chief executive of the real estate services company Colliers (CIGI) International told The Commercial Observer that he and Andy Roos, another owner in the building and a top dealmaker at Colliers International, had tapped architects and engineers to draw up plans to add space to the top of the
building.

The building has unused air rights but the plan would be contingent on city approvals because the property is landmarked. Mr. Cohen said that the addition, if it was done, would likely be in the tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands of square feet.