Commercial Real Estate & Advisory

Hairdresser HQ Heading to Meatpacking District

By Lore Croghan | June 24, 2002

Bumble and Bumble set for restyled building

Bumble and Bumble is making a beeline for the meatpacking district.
The high-fashion hair salon is building its corporate office a 415 W. 13th St. There’s also room in the just-rented 44,500 square feet for a photo studio and a training facility.

A unit of cosmetics giant Estee Lauder Cos., Bumble and bumble is hairdresser to celebrities such as Cate Blanchett and Drew Barrymore. It also sells a line of hair-care products in the United States and Europe. It will be keeping its salon at 146 E. 56th St.
The building it’s moving into is in the midst of a major makeover.

A trio of developers bought the property two years ago with Sperone Westwater Gallery and the Bohen Foundation. It was a three-story building back then. Now, Bill Schaffel, Charles Blaichman and Phillip Katz are constructing five floors on top of it. They’ve got the steel frame up, and expect to finish work in the fall.

Bumble and bumble rented all that new space. The asking rent was $42 per square foot. The lease runs for 15 years.
Landing a tenant with the cachet of Bumble and bumble and the superb credit rating of big corporation Estee Lauder is a coup for a project in an emerging neighborhood.

“It’s a developer’s dream,” says Christopher Owles, a managing director of Sinvin Realty Corp., the building’s leasing agent. He had been marketing the location since last fall. Susan Penzer Real Estate represented the tenant in the deal.

One last floor remains available for rent. Its asking price is $42 per square foot, too.