Brandon Miller’s East Village office project has landed a retail tenant.
Sephora inked a lease for the 7,800-square-foot retail space at 1 St. Mark’s Place, The Real Deal has learned. The LVMH-owned cosmetics retailer will occupy the ground floor of the nine-story boutique office project built by the late developer’s company, Real Estate Equities Corporation, or REEC.
The asking rent and length of the lease were not known. Sephora and REEC principal Mark Seigel did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Retail By MONA Team that represented Sephora in the deal declined to comment.
It’s a promising step forward for a project that’s weathered its fair share of challenges, even before Miller’s tragic death a little over a year ago. REEC bought the leasehold on the property for $29 million from Edward Gabay and filed plans in 2018 to build a 53,000-square-foot office building entirely on spec. Before foundations were even dug, Madison Capital Realty tried foreclosing on the property in 2021.
Parkview Financial rescued the project with a $70 million refinance the following year. At one point, REEC fell behind on loan payments at the project, Parkview Financial CEO Paul Rahimian said in summer 2024. It was unclear whether REEC is not up to date on payments, or how leasing is faring for the office portion of the project. Rahimian said last month that construction was complete at the curved brick and glass building on the corner of Third Avenue.
REEC’s pivot from residential and mixed-use building to an almost exclusive focus on office came at a bad time, just before the onset of the pandemic. But the office market has since made a comeback, with new inventory drying up and companies expanding.
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