Iron Horse Labs To Be Located at the Birthplace of Legendary Baseball Player Lou Gehrig
NEW YORK –March 13, 2023 – Elevate Research Properties, the life science subsidiary of Taconic Partners, have revealed plans for its latest project: a 200,000 square foot Class A research lab on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The project is strategically located near several major academic medical institutions and is steps from the new Q-Train subway line. The new research building will be located at 309 East 94th Street, the birth site of legendary Yankees’ baseball player Lou Gehrig. Gehrig famously earned the nickname “Iron Horse” given his record streak of consecutive games played.
“Elevate is excited to bring another world-class research development to the growing New York City market,” said Matthew Weir, President of Elevate Research Properties. “This particular project is especially unique given its rich history along with the rare combination of size, features, and location.”
The project, being developed with partners Nuveen Real Estate and Flatiron Equities, is located blocks from several major academic and medical institutions such as Rockefeller University, Weill Cornell, Mount Sinai, Memorial Sloan Kettering, NYC Health + Hospitals, and the Hospital for Special Surgery. The project will pair best-in-class location with best-in-class features including robust lab infrastructure, unique double height specialty research space, multiple loading bays, several outdoor terraces, and amenities. The project will also feature state-of-the-art energy efficient systems and a raised ground floor slab as part of Elevate’s overall portfolio commitment to ESG initiatives including sustainability and climate resiliency strategies. The project’s location, features, and size make it a rare and attractive flagship opportunity for research organizations, academic medical institutions, or life science and healthcare investment firms looking to house portfolio companies and research programs under one roof.
“Nuveen is fortunate to be involved in this unique project alongside Elevate Research Properties and Flatiron Equities and we continue to have high conviction in the burgeoning life science market in New York City,” said Brian Wallick, Director, Asset Management, Office and Life Science at Nuveen.
Iron Horse Labs will feature several architectural gestures towards the site’s history including its unique façade which will feature triangular passive sun shading elements which symbolize and resemble baseball stadium pennants. In addition, an exterior plaque denoting Gehrig’s birthplace will be restored, reinstalled, and featured in the new building lobby.
Lou Gehrig passed away from ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) in 1941 and the disease is still commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Iron Horse Labs’ inherent function as a cutting-edge research facility is itself a tribute to Gehrig and his continuing status as the face of a disease still in need of a cure.
“Our team is honored to work on this facility and knew from the onset that it holds great significance for the larger life science community” said Bill Harris, Managing Director at Perkins& Will. “A Native New Yorker himself, Lou Gehrig continues to be a symbol of determination and perseverance both for those battling the disease and for the many searching for cures. In designing Iron Horse Labs with Elevate Research Properties, we attempted to capture that spirit and reflect those contributions through aspects of the building’s design.”
Demolition and foundation work at the site has commenced and Elevate Research Properties expects to complete Iron Horse Labs in mid-to-late 2025.
Elevate Research Properties
Motivated to create environments that inspire world-changing scientific ventures, Elevate Research Properties builds, manages and operates premier life science real estate facilities in strategic core markets. Elevate is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taconic with a current portfolio totaling 1.4 million square feet of lab space and approximately $2 billion in total investment.
Taconic Partners
Since 1997, Taconic Partners has acquired, redeveloped and repositioned over 12 million square feet of commercial office and mixed-use space, as well as over 6,500 units of luxury and workforce housing. As a fully integrated real estate company with a keen eye for uncovering value, its diverse capabilities are evidenced by its multifaceted success with luxury properties, as well as adaptive reuse and urban revitalization projects. In New York City, Taconic is currently developing Hudson Research Center, 125 West End Avenue, 817 Broadway, 312 West 43rd Street and Essex Crossing on the Lower East Side. The firm also manages various real estate funds on behalf of institutional and pension fund investors. For more information, visit www.TaconicPartners.com
Nuveen Real Estate
Nuveen Real Estate is one of the largest investment managers in the world with $154 billion of assets under management. Managing a suite of funds and mandates, across both public and private investments, and spanning both debt and equity across diverse geographies and investment styles, we provide access to every aspect of real estate investing. With over 85 years of real estate investing experience and more than 765 employees* located across 30+ cities throughout the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific, the platform offers unparalleled geographic reach, which is married with deep sector expertise.
For further information, please visit us at nuveen.com/realestate
*Includes 385+ real estate investment professionals, supported by a further 380 Nuveen employees.
Source: Nuveen, 30 Sep 2022.
Flatiron Equities
Flatiron Equities Real Estate is a private real estate firm pursuing value creation opportunities in commercial real estate in the New York City area through an active redevelopment, expansion and/or adaptive reuse investment strategy. Founded by Fred Leffel in 2020, FERE looks at the value-add strategies Leffel and George Kaufman successfully developed over the prior decade at Kaufman New Ventures to take advantage of opportunities that arose following 2008-09 financial crisis, and adapts those forward-thinking concepts to find opportunities in the post-Covid world.
Press Contact:
Johann Hamilton
Relevance International
johann@relevanceinternational.com
212.257.1500
The full content of this article is only available to paid subscribers. If you are an active subscriber, please log in. To subscribe, please click here: SUBSCRIBE
