Luxury skincare brand owned by L’Occitane signs lease at One Grand Central Place

Sol de Janeiro USA, a luxury skincare brand that’s a subsidiary of L’Occitane, is growing its Manhattan presence by 57,203 square feet.

The newly signed lease at Empire State Realty Trust’s One Grand Central Place matters more than its size for what it says about the vitality of ESRT’s 8.6 million square-foot office portfolio.

The deal at One Grand Central, aka 60 E. 42nd St., follows Sol de Janeiro USA’s recent expansion at ESRT’s 111 W. 33rd St.

The new lease isn’t nearly as large as several recent ones in Manhattan, such as Intercontinental Exchange’s 143,000 square feet at Fisher Brothers’ 1345 Sixth Ave. (The Grand Central tower’s 1.24 million square feet are 90.7% leased with asking rents in the high $60s psf.)

But it reflects ESRT’s overall strong performance.

The company led by Anthony Malkin said in its fourth-quarter earnings report that the towers across its portfolio are 90.6% leased (including both offices and retail).

And net operating income, or NOI, for the Empire State Building Observatory — the company’s cash machine — equaled its performance in 2019 with fourth-quarter revenue of $36.2 million.