Eyewear conglomerate Luxottica pays $13.8M for office condo in Grand Central, last sold for $18.7M

Italian eye glasses conglomerate EssilorLuxottica, better known as Luxottica, through the entity EssilorLuxottica USA Inc., paid $13.8 million to wholesaler Argento SC through the entity 420 JS, LLC for the 15th floor office condo at 420 Fifth Avenue in Grand Central, Manhattan. The seller bought the unit in 2018 for $18.7 million.
Luxottica owns brands such as Ray-Ban and Oakley and is the licensee for brands including Giorgio Armani, Brunello Cucinelli, Burberry, Chanel, Coach and Dolce & Gabbana.
The deal closed on April 5, 2024 and was recorded on April 11, 2024. The property has 17,326 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data, according to the commercial condominium declaration, p 53. The sale price per built square foot is $793 per the PincusCo analysis. (The price per square foot analysis is the transaction price divided by square feet as reported in public records and assumes no air rights have been sold.)
The signatory for Argento SC was Jack Scaba and Steven Scaba. The signatory for EssilorLuxottica was Stefano Vittori. The contract date was March 12, 2024.

Argento SC is a wholesaler with an address at this 15th floor unit. Jack Scaba and Steven Scaba are executives at Argento SC. according to LinkedIn accounts under their names.

Luxxotica is a retail eyeglasses company.

The New York Business Journal reported on this transaction yesterday but did not identify the seller.

Prior sales and revenue

Prior to this transaction, PincusCo has no record that the buyer EssilorLuxottica had purchased any other properties and has no record it sold any properties over the past 24 months.
The seller Argento SC had not purchased any other properties and had not sold any properties over the same time period.

The property

The office condo in Grand Central has 17,326 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has a total lot size of 17,326 square feet. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $11.6 million.

Violations and lawsuits

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months. In addition, according to city public data, the property has not received any significant violations in the last year.

Development

On the lot, there are two active new building construction projects and major alteration projects with initial costs more than $5 million, totaling 429,571 square feet. The largest is a major alteration project for a 429,570 square-foot B building submitted by Steven Vanroekel with plans filed September 27, 2021 and permitted December 22, 2021. The second largest is a major alteration project for a one square-foot B building submitted by Alexander Constantin with plans filed September 2, 2021 and permitted February 1, 2023.

The neighborhood

In Grand Central, The majority, or 83 percent of the 43.5 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 8 percent of the space. In sales, Grand Central has 3.2 times the average sales volume among other neighborhoods with $895.5 million in sales volume in the last two years and is the 9th highest in Manhattan. For development, Grand Central has 3.4 times the average amount of major developments relative to other neighborhoods and is the 9th highest in Manhattan. It had 3.9 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 9 percent of the neighborhood’s built space. There were four pre-foreclosure suit filed among other office buildings in the past 12 months.

The block

On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of nine of the 32 commercial properties representing 485,875 square feet of the 1,281,796 square feet. The largest owner is W&L Group, followed by Rosen Equities and then Northeast Equity Management.
On the tax block, there was one new building construction project filed totaling 65,961 square feet. It is a 200-unit, 65,961 square-foot hotel/dormitory/shelter (R-1) building submitted by William Obeid with plans filed July 19, 2013 and permitted July 12, 2018.

The majority, or 76 percent of the 1.3 million square feet of built space are office buildings, with hotel buildings next occupying 18 percent of the space.

Direct link to Acris document. link