New York Blood Center recently announced plans to expand its existing headquarters at 310 East 67th Street on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Renderings from Ennead Architects offer a first look at the “Center East” project, which includes the replacement of the Blood Center’s existing property with a 16-story mixed-use tower.
Beyond providing life-saving blood products and services in New York City and the surrounding region, NYBC is also home to numerous advances in research and development in the field of blood-related diseases including collection and research of convalescent plasma therapy to treat COVID-19, development of prototypic vaccines against SARS, MERS, and HIV viruses, as well as regenerative medicine research.
Center East is envisioned as an opportunity for NYBC to significantly expand its research facilities and to also create spaces for affiliated life science startups, industry groups, partner institutions, and venture capital firms. The driving goal for the Ennead team was to deliver a space that fosters collaboration, facilitates communication among related project teams, and improves interior organization of vital facilities.
When complete, the vertical campus will comprise 596,000 square feet of built-up area.
“The mission of the New York Blood Center has never been more important,” said Peter Schubert, design partner at Ennead Architects, whose firm is credited as architect of record. “We are proud to design Center East, a new home for NYBC that supports their critical work in the service of public health, can operate at the highest levels of efficiency for today’s state-of-the-art research, and is nimble enough to easily respond to future needs as they arise.”
As anchor tenant, NYBC will be the primary occupant of the first through fifth floors. Programming at these levels will include a ground-floor blood donation center, state-of-the art research labs, office space, and other administrative areas. Floors seven and above will be reserved for organizations affiliated with Longfellow Real Estate Partners, co-developer of Center East. Future occupants will also have access to collaborative spaces, a café, conference facilities, and a ground floor multi-purpose room.
“We believe deeply in the mission of New York Blood Center and that Center East can serve as the catalyst to generating a thriving life science ecosystem in New York City,” said Jamison Peschel, managing partner at Longfellow Real Estate Partners. “This is an incredible opportunity for NYBC and for New York to leverage the research capacity of world-class institutions and drive the commercialization of advances that will save lives.”
It is anticipated that the development will spur the creation of approximately 2,600 new jobs on site, an estimated 3,000 indirect jobs in the neighborhood, and a total new economic output of $1.1 billion annually. NYBC and Longfellow will also create and execute a workforce development program for local youth and college-level students with a focus on STEM programing and education, internships and mentoring programs, strategic partnerships with outside educational organizations, as well as on-site training and certification programs.
“New York City is facing unparalleled challenges in the wake of COVID-19,” said Manhattan borough president Gale A. Brewer. “Center East is a proposed solution that will make us both more resilient in the face of future pandemics and provide an economic engine that will be essential to our city’s success moving forward.”
At this stage of development team, there is no official word on when the project is expected to complete.
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A cool looking podium.
The influx of professional workers will drive up demand and likely prices for residential properties in the immediate area.