Moroccanoil Takes 40K SF at SL Green Midtown Tower

Luxury beauty products company Moroccanoil has signed a 10-year lease for 39,799 square feet at SL Green’s 1185 Sixth Avenue.

The company will be moving from 135 East 57th Street — which will be undergoing an office-to-apartments conversion — and will occupy the entire 33rd floor and part of the 32nd at its new address.

The asking rent was $118 per square foot. Deborah Van Der Heyden, Yarden Drimmer, Tamar Wartanian and Andrew Chase of Cushman & Wakefield represented Moroccanoil. Brian Waterman, John Fanuzzi, Brent Ozarowski, David Waterman and Kevin Sullivan of Newmark represented SL Green.

The New York Post was first to report the deal, which brings the 42-story building to more than 90 percent leased. 

Moroccanoil sells a line of personal care products including shampoos, conditioners, moisturizers and perfumes. All products are infused with Moroccan argan oil, pressed from the nuts of Mediterranean argan trees.

“We are excited to welcome Moroccanoil to 1185 Avenue of the Americas,” Steven Durels, executive vice president and director of leasing and real property at SL Green, said in a statement. “This transaction continues the trend of strong leasing momentum throughout our entire Midtown portfolio, and underscores the increasing demand for well located, highly improved office space.”

The Sixth Avenue building opened in 1971 as J.P. Stevens Tower, after a pioneering textile firm, back when the area was more prominent for its proximity to the Garment District.  

SL Green came into possession of the 1.1 million-square-foot building between West 46th and West 47th streets when it purchased the building’s owner, Reckson Associates Realty, in a merger valued at $6 billion, including the assumption of $2 billion in debt, according to a 2006 announcement from SL Green.

Other significant lease deals at SL Green properties of late include consulting and advisory firm Teneo Holdings renewing 46,551 square feet at 280 Park Avenue, and asset management firm Sagard Capital Partners expanding from 8,936 square feet to 40,516 square feet in the same building, both in October and both for 10 years, as CO reported. Also that month, Harvey AI took 92,663 square feet at SL Green’s One Madison Avenue, also for 10 years, and the New York State Office of General Services (OGS) signed a 15-year, 66,106-square-foot expansion at SL Green’s 919 Third Avenue, as CO reported.

Other tenants at 1185 Sixth Avenue include the engineering firm Syska Hennessy; law firm Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes; ICBC Standard Resources, an arm of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China; energy investment firm Hartree Partners; and insurance brokerage Lockton.

Larry Getlen can be reached at lgetlen@commercialobserver.com.