New York City mayor Eric Adams and New York governor Kathy Hochul have unveiled plans to construct Manhattan’s first Science Park and Research Campus (SPARC) in Kips Bay. Located on Hunter College’s Brookdale Campus at East 25th Street and First Avenue, SPARC is described as a career and education innovation hub for life sciences.
The project will transform an entire city block and create more than 1.5 million square feet of academic, public health, and life sciences space. The campus will be anchored by new educational facilities for over 4,500 students from the Hunter College School of Nursing and School of Health Professions, the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, and the Borough of Manhattan Community College’s multiple healthcare programs.
Additional components include a blood testing and ambulatory center, a training center for simulated patient blood testing, a new healthcare and science-focused high school, a new Office of Chief Medical Examiner Forensic Pathology Center, office space, and wet labs. The project will also create a new publicly accessible pedestrian bridge that connects East 25th Street to the East River and Manhattan Waterfront Greenway.
Area map and site plan for SPARC Kips Bay – New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)
“This new Science Park and Research Campus in Kips Bay will be not only a hub for the life sciences industry and an anchor for the neighborhood, but also a bridge to the future for our city’s young people,” said mayor Adams. “SPARC Kips Bay will transform an entire city block into a state-of-the-art destination for the life sciences industry and be a place where workforce development, economic opportunity, and public health come together seamlessly—attracting businesses and uplifting New Yorkers to bring our city back stronger than ever with $25 billion in new economic activity for our city over the next three decades.”
Over the next year, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), CUNY, and Skidmore Owings & Merrill will work in partnership to complete a master planning for the development to identify the site’s infrastructure needs, opportunities to create public open space, urban design, and potential zoning amendments needed to facilitate construction.
According to NYEDC, the project team intends to engage the community leader for feedback as the development takes shape.
The vertical campus will support an educational pipeline for teens and adults pursuing careers in life sciences, healthcare, and public health. CUNY will offer collegiate degrees and continuing education programs in public health and medical research. Career programs will include courses for doctors, nurses, biochemists, and engineers, as well as a variety of supporting roles in the life sciences and healthcare fields.
“SPARC Kips Bay represents a path-breaking approach to economic development in New York City where we create clusters in which commerce and schools work side by side to provide career pathways for CUNY and DOE students in the innovative sectors of today and tomorrow,” said NYCEDC president and CEO Andrew Kimball. “Together, we are creating an unprecedented pipeline of diverse talent that will prepare our city for future health emergencies while advancing new medicines, medical devices, innovative therapies, and other products to help treat sick people and improve their lives and care.”
SPARC is expected to generate approximately $25 billion in economic impact to the city over the next 30 years and spur the creation of 10,000 jobs. This includes an estimated 8,000 construction jobs.
The $1.6 billion project cost will be funded jointly by the city and state with additional private sector investments. Construction is expected to break ground in 2023 and be completed by the end of 2026.
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The city needs to do something like this on the West side.
Create another science and medical district? Why would they ever do that?
Perhaps by 2100, this area will finally get a 2nd Avenue subway extension.
Cantilever Fever!
The site was to be a Sanitation Dept garage. This is more acceptable to the NIMBYs.
Can you clarify on the 25th street pedestrian bridge? There is one already existing. Will they be replacing it?
Where are the facilities for housing? This too is sorely needed, to go along with this important development. It would be nice if students could walk to school and workers could walk to work!