Sola Salons Opening Second Manhattan Outpost in Midtown South
By Mark Hallum February 12, 2024 1:24 pm
reprintsNational hair salon chain Sola Salons will open its second Manhattan location in Midtown South.
The salon signed a lease for 7,200 square feet on the fifth floor of Argo Real Estate’s 50 West 17th Street and plans to open its new location in the spring, according to Sola.
Landlord broker Okada & Company" class="company-link">Okada & Company declined to provide the exact length of the lease, only saying it was a long-term deal, but said the asking rent was $50 per square foot.
“At this newest location, we intend to offer both our traditional 24/7-365 space as well as more flexible membership options to support the independent businesses of local beauty professionals,” Karl Baumert, owner of the Sola Salon Studios franchises in Manhattan, said in a statement.
Tommy Botsaris of Colliers (CIGI) represented the tenant while Christopher Okada, Thomas Capuano and Elena Ivanova of Okada & Company negotiated on behalf of Argo. Colliers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“I believe this is part of a larger trend we are seeing in our portfolio of ‘specialty coworking’ where companies create infrastructure and design spaces for very specific users, freelancers, in a B2B capacity — in this case salon suites,” Okada said in a statement.
Sola’s other Manhattan location at 222 East 34th Street is one of 700 other Sola Salons across the U.S. with about 20,000 beauticians under its banner, according to the company, which was founded in 2004 by Stratton Smith and Matt Briger.
Sola has one other location in the city at 85 North Third Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
It’s unclear what other tenants lease space in the building, but Knotel had about 20,000 square feet of space starting in 2017 before its 2021 bankruptcy.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.