Real Estate
Old UES Office Building To Be Expanded As Science Lab, Plans Show
A decades-old Yorkville factory-turned-office building will be reborn once again as a sprawling life science lab, according to new plans.
UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An aging Yorkville office building is set to be expanded and renovated by its new owners into a sprawling life-science research lab, according to city records.
Developers Taconic Partners filed plans with the city this week to enlarge the five-story building at 309 East 94th St. into a nine-story life science building.
The company's ultimate plans call for a 200,000-square-foot Class-A research lab: a project that will total $325 million, New York Business Journal reported this summer.
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A rendering on the website of Elevate Research Properties, Taconic's life-science subsidiary, shows the future 309 East 94th St. clad in glass and metal, with a plant-covered balcony above the fifth floor — though a company representative told Patch that the image may not reflect the latest plans.
The existing building is also known for a plaque on its facade that identifies the block as the birthplace of New York Yankees star Lou Gehrig, who was raised in Yorkville by German immigrant parents. It's unclear what will become of the plaque once construction begins.
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As Patch previously reported, Taconic and its partner Nuveen Real Estate spent $70 million last fall to purchase the 94th Street building, which sits between First and Second avenues, as well as an adjacent auto shop and garage on the opposite side of the block, at 324 East 95th St.
Taconic filed plans in June to demolish the auto shop — known for being the site of an August 2021 murder — but it was unclear what role that site will play in the new science facility.
Built in 1927 as a factory, the East 94th Street building was renovated in the 1980s into a loft-style office building with garage space, Real Estate Weekly previously reported.
A representative for Elevate Research confirmed that the company was awaiting city approval for the construction plans, but declined to comment further about the future building's features.
It will be designed by the architecture firm Perkins & Will, plans show.
Once built, it will be the latest addition to the East Side's growing life science scene, joining other planned projects like the New York Blood Center's new headquarters and Rockefeller University's upcoming "incubator."
The future lab building is also just one block east from the 94th Street block where a developer is seeking a rezoning to build a 46-story apartment tower.
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