NEW YORK CITY — Locally based firm Extell Development Co. is underway on construction of a 435,000-square-foot medical office project at 1520 First Ave. on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Designed by Perkins Eastman Architects, the 30-story building will occupy a full city block between East 79th and East 80th streets and house ambulatory care and surgical facilities. Foundation completion and vertical construction are scheduled to occur during the third quarter of this year, and full completion is slated for the second quarter of 2025.
According to the development team, the facility will be the first privately built medical office tower to be developed on the Upper East Side. Additional building features will include multiple outdoor terraces and mechanical systems to enhance comfort and energy efficiency, as well as ground-floor retail space.
The Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) has preleased eight floors totaling 195,580 square feet to serve as the facility’s anchor tenant. Newmark has been tapped to lease the remainder of the space.
HSS will house orthopedic and rheumatology physician’s offices, as well as ancillary services for treatment of musculoskeletal conditions. The space will complement the expansion of HSS’ main campus, which will house the newly announced Lauder Family Spine Center that is set to open in 2024 at the HSS Kellen Tower.
“The current medical office inventory in the city is not equipped to meet the modern needs of today’s healthcare industry,” says Gary Barnett, founder and chairman of Extell Development. “Medical institutions are growing at a rapid pace and are creating an immediate need for more space. We saw this as an opportunity to bring the superior level of quality and craftsmanship to this new, state-of-the-art medical facility.”
— Taylor Williams