Cosmetics Company Triples Manhattan Office Presence

e.l.f. Beauty has inked a 10-year, 26,000-square-foot office lease at Meysar Realty Corp.’s 16 W. 22nd St., a 165,000-square-foot office building in Manhattan, N.Y. Since 2020, the beauty company has occupied 13,000 square feet at the property, thereby expanding its footprint to 39,000 square feet.

GFP Real Estate and Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord and the tenant, respectively, in the lease proceedings.  

Free Agency and Rebecca Minkoff previously occupied the office space. The cosmetics firm will utilize the space to further grow its business and focus on global expansion. Earlier this year, e.l.f. Beauty opened its first European office in London, and in 2023, the firm paid $355 million to acquire Naturium, a skincare brand.

READ ALSO: Why the NYC Office Market Is a Tale of 2 Cities

Design Republic provided architectural services for the beauty company’s previously leased 13,000 square feet, while Ryan Soames Engineering took charge of MEP, IT and security systems engineering design.  

William Harvey Birkmire designed the steel and masonry office building. Rising 12 stories, 16 W. 22nd St. was built in 1910 and its lobby went through a renovation process in 2003. Features include 13,500-square-foot floorplates, 12-foot ceiling heights, 10-foot column spacing and a floor load of 100 lbs. per square foot. A restaurant duo occupies the ground floor.

The mid-rise office building is in Manhattan’s Flatiron District. Madison Square Park, Union Square Greenmarket, as well as multiple subway stations are within walking distance. Also proximate to 16 W. 22nd St. is The Feil Organization’s 226,000-square-foot The Gramercy Park Building, where PEI Architects signed a 12,617-square-foot lease renewal in April.

GFP Real Estate Senior Managing Director Barbara Yagoda represented Meysar Realty Corp., while Cushman & Wakefield Executive Director Jonathan Schindler spearheaded the leasing efforts on behalf of e.l.f. Beauty.

Manhattan’s office leasing activity reaches seven-quarter high

A recent Lincoln Property Co. survey revealed that less than 20 percent of U.S. office workers prefer fully-remote positions. The questionnaire reached 1,008 full-time employed U.S. adults and found out that 46 percent of respondents prefer working four to five days a week in the office, while only 16 percent would rather work fully remotely.

Manhattan’s office leasing activity partially reflected Lincoln’s survey findings as a Cushman & Wakefield report shows that a total of 6.3 million square feet of office space had been leased in the second quarter of 2024—marking the first time in seven quarters when the figure surpassed 6 million.

Despite the leasing momentum, Manhattan’s office vacancy rate keeps rising. Cushman & Wakefield placed the availability rate at 23.6 percent in June, showing a 120-basis point increase year-over-year.  

Not all office properties are affected the same, as a CBRE study identified a performance gap between asset classes. The analysis pinpoints a more exclusive denomination than the usual Class A, which was dubbed prime office space.  

Characterized by amenities such as concierge services and outdoor terraces, the prime office buildings averaged a vacancy rate of 14.8 percent during this year’s first quarter—4.5 percentage points lower than the rest of the market—the study shows. Manhattan includes 55 such properties.

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