Beauty Company, Korean Financial Firms and Fuel Supplier Ink Deals at Tower 45
By Celia Young April 25, 2023 2:13 pm
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Four companies — beauty business Wella Company, fuel supplier Minerva Bunkering and Korean financial firms Nonghyup Bank and NH Investment & Securities — inked deals at Tower 45 in Midtown’s Theater District, Commercial Observer has learned.
In the largest of the four deals, Wella signed a 10-year renewal for its 10,093-square-foot space on the entire third floor of the building at 120 West 45th Street. Asking rent was $67 per square foot, according to landlord Kamber Management.
Wella — which owns nail polish brand OPI and hair care tool maker GHD — moved into the 40-story building in 2013 and has used the space to train salon workers to use its products, said CBRE (CBRE)’s Mark Ravesloot, who brokered the deal for Wella with Michael Monahan and Scott Sloves. And Wella plans to give its floor a makeover thanks to a tenant improvement allowance it scored in the renewal.
“[The deal] will allow us to renovate the space as well as is needed,” Ravesloot said. “The footprint and the location worked very well for them, because of the access to transportation, but the space needed to be reconfigured and modernized to reflect their current needs.”
JLL (JLL)’s Paul Glickman, Diana Biasotti, Kyle Young and Kate Roush represented Kamber in all four deals.
Meanwhile, Korean agricultural bank Nonghyup Bank signed a 10-year lease to move into 8,194 square feet on the 19th floor of Tower 45, according to landlord broker JLL.
Asking rent was $74 per square foot, said Kamber President Steven Levy.
Nonghyup Bank, a subsidiary of NongHyup Financial Group, will take the Tower 45 space from law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel, which relocated to One Rockefeller Plaza. It’s unclear if Nonghyup Bank plans to ditch its Midtown offices at 650 Fifth Avenue thanks to the new deal.
Cushman & Wakefield‘s Jon Fales and Mike Tranfalia represented the bank in its lease. A spokesperson for C&W did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The bank won’t be short on friends. Another NongHyup Financial Group subsidiary, NH Investment, decided to expand its space at Tower 45.
NH Investment signed a five-year lease to grow its footprint from 3,687 square feet to 6,310 square feet on part of the 24th floor, according to JLL.
Asking rent was $76 per square foot, said Levy.
The securities company, one of the largest in South Korea, first moved to Tower 45 in 2017, according to JLL. The 458,446-square-foot building’s amenities — including a new lounge, cafè, game room and air-filtration system — helped keep the company in the building, Levy said in a statement.
“Kamber continues to lead by investing in our tenants’ comfort and well-being with best-in-class building systems, office space and amenities,” Levy said. “The continued leasing momentum at Tower 45 validates those efforts, and we are delighted to welcome these [tenants].”
In the last transaction, marine fuel supplier Minerva Bunkering will ditch its 52 Vanderbilt Avenue offices for 3,389 square feet on the 30th floor of Tower 45, according to Kamber.
Kamber declined to comment on the terms of the deal, but asking rents at the building range from $64 to $80 per square foot, according to JLL.
Minerva decided to move to the building because of its recent upgrades, including a new lobby and elevators, said Cresa’s Andrew Kolen, who represented the tenant with Alex Gerome and Peter Sabesan.
“We analyzed numerous options through Midtown, and that location provided a great option in terms of the quality of the office tower and the competitive financial economics of the deal,” Kolen said.
Update: This story has been updated to include that the brokers for Nonghyup Bank’s lease were C&W’s Jon Fales and Mike Tranfalia, not CBRE.
Celia Young can be reached at cyoung@commercialobserver.com.
