Weill Cornell Medicine is leasing 200,000 square feet in the Sotheby’s headquarters at 1334 York Avenue, Bloomberg reported. The five floors will include a split between dry lab space for computational research and wet lab space for drug, chemical and biological research. There will also be conference rooms and workspaces.
Details regarding the lease, including asking rent, were not disclosed. Representatives from Weill Cornell did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Real Deal.
Weill Cornell is taking the space from Sotheby’s, which owns the 500,000-square-foot building on York Avenue and has used it as a headquarters. Sotheby’s appears to be on the move, though, buying the landmark Breuer Building from the Whitney Museum of American Art for $100 million in the spring. The space will include an auction house and exhibitions when Sotheby’s relocates in 2025.
Sotheby’s doesn’t intend to leave its York Avenue space until 2025. It plans on continuing to host auctions and exhibitions until then. Weill Cornell won’t start occupying three of the building’s floors until 2025. A gut renovation will leave the other two floors off-limits until Fall 2026; there’s also the option to add another floor.
Weill Cornell recently added 100,000 square feet to its Midtown space at 575 Lexington Avenue, in addition to renewing 200,000 square feet at the George Comfort & Sons property. The organization is also working on a 16-story, 221-unit dormitory project in the Upper East Side, expected to cost $260 million.
As for Sotheby’s, the auction house spent $82 million last year to buy Gantry Point, a converted office building in Long Island City. The company also plans to lease more office space near the Breuer building.
— Holden Walter-Warner