The economy may be getting uglier but Times Square is getting prettier, now that cosmetics-category killer Sephora is slipping into a prominent slot.
Sources tell The Post the company signed a deal for a 13,000-square-foot triplex flagship in the base of the Ernst & Young building at 5 Times Square on West 42nd Street.
The asking rent for the former Times Square Brewery – which includes valuable building-side “spectacular” signage – was over $4.5 million a year.
The opening of the flagship in August will give Sephora two locations in the district. The makeup emporium already operates a 3,000-square-foot shop at 1500 Broadway and 43rd Street.
“It’s a big vote of confidence that they are opening something else,” said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance.
The leading retail beauty chain in Europe, Sephora has in the past few years been making its mark on the Big Apple. “Their products hit the sweet spot between the tourists and the office workers.”
Virginia Pittarelli of HGCD represented Sephora while Cory Zelnik of Zelnik & Co. repped AVR Realty, the Yonkers-based owners of the tower.
Both brokers declined to comment.
The lease has been executed for nearly six months, sources said, but was hung up on various sign-offs by the state.
Sephora officials did not return calls for comment.
AVR agreed to buy the tower from Boston Properties in Nov. 2006 for $1.25 billion with a $1.139 billion mortgage from Wachovia recorded in Feb. 2007 that was since transferred to Wells Fargo.