Jones Lang LaSalle


Upscale men's spa waxes creative

Truman won't be your grandpa's barbershop.
Three New Yorkers are launching an upscale men's spa, slated to open in April at 120 E. 56th St., between Park and Lexington avenues. The 5,000-square-foot location will offer not only traditional barbershop services, such as haircuts and professional shaves, but also metrosexual treatments, like waxing and pedicures.

"We're really trying to change the concept of grooming," says John Esposito, one of Truman's owners.

The center will feature a full bar and flat-screen TVs in the lobby, as well as loaded iPods in the spa area. Truman has been designed to give customers privacy during their treatments, so they won't have to feel self-conscious while getting a cut-and-color or a manicure.

"It's for men in their mid-20s and 30s who have to be well-groomed and polished," says Allison Winters, a CB Richard Ellis broker who represented the tenant in the deal.

Truman's owners signed a 10-year lease for the two-floor location, which is slated to be the first of three Truman spas in the city.

The 56th Street spa will fill space left vacant by Benihana, a Japanese restaurant that closed its doors early last year. The site owner, First Pioneer Properties, had to be convinced that a men's spa could succeed in the building. Promenade Real Estate Corp. negotiated on behalf of the owner.

The asking rent was $120 per square foot for the 2,500-square-foot ground-floor space.

--Elisabeth Butler