Georgetown Co. will bring life sciences hub to Far West Side

Mount Sinai signed long-term lease for its medical school

Georgetown president and CEO Adam Flatto and a rendering of 787 11th Avenue 
Georgetown president and CEO Adam Flatto and a rendering of 787 11th Avenue

The Georgetown Company will bring a life-sciences hub to Manhattan’s Far West Side, where Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has signed a long-term lease.

The medical school took 165,000 square feet at 787 Eleventh Avenue, the former auto showroom building Georgetown purchased with Bill Ackman several years ago to convert to high-end offices. Georgetown announced news of the lease Thursday.

The building sits in a life-sciences corridor on the West Side that is becoming a hub for these kinds of companies.

“This is just the beginning of demand for more life-science companies to move into this submarket, given the strength of other medical companies and institutions in this area of the Far West Side,” JLL’s Steven Rotter told The Real Deal. The building’s design and natural light are particularly attractive to life-science tenants, added Rotter, who represented Georgetown in the deal alongside colleague Peter Riguardi.

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Asking rent for the space was around $100 per square foot, according to a source. Rob Martin and Barbara Winter of JLL represented Mount Sinai in the deal.

Mount Sinai’s new research facility will be used to study genome sequencing and genome development, proteomics and protein engineering as well as gene and cell editing. The facility will include an imaging center, an ambulatory surgery center and the hospital’s spine and breast centers.

A portion of the space Mount Sinai took had previously been leased to short-term office provider IWG for its Spaces co-working brand. The company built out its center but never occupied the space, according to a source.

Georgetown and Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management purchased the hulking building in 2015 for more than $250 million. Pershing Square’s headquarters is in the building, which is now 100 percent leased.