Extell Development Company has closed on $425 million construction loan to complete a mixed-use high-rise at 1520 First Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The 30-story building will include a mix of medical and commercial office space with frontage along East 80th and East 81st Streets.
The financial package was provided by a consortium of investors including InterVest Capital Partners, Rexmark, Pacific Western Bank, and Harbor Group International.
In 2018, Gary Barnett, the top executive at Extell, completed acquisition of the ten neighboring parcels that comprise the medical tower’s development site. The ten demolished properties contained around 100 apartments and almost a dozen retailers.
The now-vacant parcels will be improved with over 390,000 rentable square feet of medical space and retail on the lower floors. A total of 196,000 square feet is already pre-leased to the Hospital for Special Surgery, which specializes in musculoskeletal health and surgery center.
According to the team, construction is expected to break ground in 2025.
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The frontage will actually be on East 79th and East 80th Streets. While you can, make an interior visit to Saint Monica’s Church for a look at the unobstructed, lit-up v daytime views of their massive stained glass windows. As a suggestion for Extell, why not make a provision on the backside for some “sunbeam”-type lighting at the 2rd-thru-5th floor levels, to illuminate and inspire, when the risen building casts nothing but its shadow.
St. Monica’s would MORE than welcome Extell’s addition of artificial sunlight to these windows. While they will not be completely dark, they will be obscured, as the windows on the East side of the building often are.
It’s surprising to not do resi on that site given its location. However, this will be a hugely successful project and with half of the office leased to the top Ortho Hospital in the world, the rest will go quickly which will be a boon for local retailers to have that daytime foot traffic.
Mixed used neighborhoods are the way to go.
Construction broke ground six months ago.
The street had a complete row of historic buildings now destroyed leaving the entire area a post-war dystopia. It’s really a shame those facades couldn’t have been incorporated into this new, very bland project.