Hines, Welltower plan 15-story senior living facility in Midtown

Developer and REIT acquired the site at 139 East 56th Street

From left: Welltower CEO Thomas DeRosa, 139 East 56th Street in Midtown, and Hines founder Gerald Hines
From left: Welltower CEO Thomas DeRosa, 139 East 56th Street in Midtown, and Hines founder Gerald Hines

A few blocks from Billionaires’ Row, a developer and real estate investment trust are not planning high-end condominiums, but rather a senior assisted living facility.

Houston-based Hines and REIT Welltower acquired two adjacent properties at 139 East 56th Street from Stephen Meringoff and Dennis Riese for an undisclosed price, according to a joint statement released Tuesday.

They plan to tear down the existing two-story, nearly 7,000-square-foot building, which houses a T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant, and plan a 15-story building for seniors, Bloomberg reported.

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This is the first senior housing project for Hines, which is one of the developers of the 82-story, Jean Nouvel-designed MoMA Tower at 53 West 53rd Street. Welltower invests in assisted living facilities and other forms of housing for seniors.

Hines, which has about $89 billion of assets under management, and the Ohio-based Welltower said in the statement that Manhattan’s aging population has been “vastly underserved,” according to Bloomberg.

“It’s a different conversation than what we would typically have on a redevelopment site in Midtown,” Jonathan Miller of appraisal firm Miller Samuel told Bloomberg. “The default thinking for the last five years has been that a patch of dirt is there to inevitably be a super-luxury condo tower.” [Bloomberg]Dusica Sue Malesevic