Extell building 30-story medical tower on UES

Gary Barnett’s latest set for 400,000 sf

Extell Development chairman Gary Barnett and the empty lot between 79th and 80th on First Avenue (Google Maps)
Extell Development chairman Gary Barnett and the empty lot between 79th and 80th on First Avenue (Google Maps)

Gary Barnett’s Extell Development is ushering in a new project on the Upper East Side.

Extell is developing a 30-story, 400,000-square-foot building on a vacant lot between 79th and 80th streets on First Avenue, according to the New York Post. The developer is reportedly expected to break ground on the project later this year.

About half of the building is already pre-leased, the Post reported. The Hospital for Special Surgery has nabbed 200,000 square feet on eight floors for physicians’ offices and other services. Extell is reportedly aiming to lease the upper floors to other medical tenants.

Barnett estimates the project will cost approximately $500 million. Perkins Eastman will serve as the architect for the project, which is set to be presented to the Community Board on Monday. It does not require public approval to proceed.

Extell has been putting together an assemblage in the area for years, but this is the first time it’s been clear what its plans for the site would be.

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The Real Deal reported in March 2018 that Extell was close to securing a 250,000-square-foot assemblage. Barnett was considering a residential tower with a school at its base for the 10 parcels of land, which took around 10 years for the Central Park Tower developer to piece together.

In May 2018, the Church of Saint Monica entered into contract to sell more than 100,000 square feet of development rights to the developer at 406 East 80th Street for about $35.8 million.

Barnett’s company recently spent $82 million for two lots in the Theater District, as well as a package of development rights from the Shubert Organization. The company has a $186 million assemblage there.

The move into the tower is the latest in the Hospital for Special Surgery’s rapid growth. Earlier this year, construction began on a facility between East 71st Street and East 75th Street, attached to its main campus. According to the Post, the Extell site is more than double the size of the other construction site.

[NYP] — Holden Walter-Warner