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How Mount Sinai’s 102nd Street rental tower got a Fifth Ave. address
School convinced Manhattan borough president’s office address would help financially support the hospital
The Icahn School of Medicine’s 32-story Rental Tower On The Upper East Side Has 102nd Street views, but that didn’t Stop It From Getting A Fifth Avenue address.
When the medical school at Mount Sinai built the 518-foot tower a few years ago, it convinced the Manhattan borough president’s office to use an address at 1214 Fifth Avenue, even though the building was about 150 feet away from the tony street, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In a letter to the borough president’s office, which oversees addresses, Mount Sinai chief financial officer Donald Scanlon said using a Fifth Avenue address would mean higher rents that could help the nonprofit medical school and hospital overcome threatened budget cuts from Washington.
“A key indicator to successful residential developments is the address,” he wrote in 2011. “The marketing of a ‘Fifth Avenue’ address will exponentially affect the leasing rate and the overall revenue performance of this development.”
The borough president’s office, then led by Scott Stringer, granted the request to change the address from 4 East 102nd Street so long as the medical school post a sign on the wall of 1212 Fifth Avenue indicating that the entrance to 1214 Fifth Avenue is on East 102nd Street.
Asking rents at the building, which is managed by Related Companies, are more than $12,000 for a three-bedroom and $4,600 for a one-bedroom apartment. [WSJ] – Rich Bockmann