Weill Cornell Medicine to Take Over Five Floors Of Sotheby’s Former HQ On The UES
The medical institute is expanding its research footprints in Manhattan by turning the soon-to-be-former offices of the British multinational auction house into a research lab.
| 04 Dec 2023 | 10:27
A rendering of 1334 York Ave., close to Weill Cornell Medicine’s main campus building at 1300 York Ave. Credit: SOM Inc.
Sotheby’s is leasing half of its former HQ at 72nd Street and York Avenue to Weill Cornell Medicine which has numerous nearby outlets in the neighborhood already (Flickr/@shanreb816)
Earlier this year, Our Town reported on Sotheby’s plans to acquire the Breuer building from the Whitney Museum to house its auction galleries at York Avenue a new home. Since the purchase, there’s been a looming question about who was going to be taking up space in Sotheby’s former 500,000 square foot headquarters on the UES. Now, Sotheby’s has announced that it has leased five of the building’s ten floors to Weill Cornell Medicine.
The new deal marks the medical institution’s largest expansion since the Belfer Research Building, which opened on the corner of 413 East 69th Street in 2014.
Dr. Robert A. Harrington, the Dean of the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine and provost for medical affairs of Cornell University, emphasized that the new facilities are only a block away from the medical school’s main campus on the UES making it a convenient location that will “enable investigators to share ideas and technologies; drive discovery across disciplines; attract and retain the brightest scientific minds; sustain growth in our research funding; and further a sense of community.”
The new labs are projected to open in 2026 and will focus on a wide range of foundational, clinical, and translational research.. The 200,000 square feet space will help advance research in key specialties such as neuroscience, immunotherapy, regenerative medicine, population health, women’s health, and cardiovascular medicine, the company said in a statement. It will also house the expansion of programs, including the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine and the Meyer Cancer Center. The medical school also plans to build a “dry lab space,” which will focus on computational research methods, and a “wet lab space,” which will use drugs, chemicals, and other biological matter for investigation. There will also be large conference rooms and workstations.
“Our institution’s critical research expansion will accelerate innovation in medicine so we can bring more cutting-edge treatments and therapies to patients,” said Jessica M. Bibliowicz, chair of the Weill Cornell Medicine Board of Fellows. Bringing in new and innovative technology will allow researchers to focus on high-impact initiatives across diverse populations. It will also lead to new jobs for lab researchers, data scientists, and business experts and house over 700 staff and faculty members, including existing personnel from other institutional sites.
Neither Sotheby nor Weil Cornell have disclosed leasing and rental cost details yet. However, Commercial Observer reported that Mary Ann Tighe, Lauren Crowley Corrinet, and Elliot Bok of CBRE brokered the deal for Sotheby’s while John Cefaly of Cushman & Wakefield handled it for Weill Cornell.
Phase one of the expansion project is expected to begin in early 2024, starting with construction on two floors.