Rensselaer Signs Lab Space Lease at Hudson Research Center
Nation’s first tech research university will take 23,000 square feet with Taconic Partners and Silverstein Properties
By Greg Cornfield May 16, 2022 5:15 pm
reprints
Adding to the rapidly expanding life sciences market in New York City, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) has signed a lease for 23,000 square feet of lab space on the ninth floor of the Hudson Research Center.
Owners Taconic Partners and Silverstein Properties announced the lease and the launch of RPI’s Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine in partnership with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The center builds on the city’s thriving life sciences market, which is defined by academic institutions and driven by strong demand from early-stage innovation companies.
Terms of the lease were not disclosed. Asking rents at Hudson Research Center are in the low-$100 per square foot on a net basis, a spokesperson told Commercial Observer.
“The new Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine marks another important milestone for the New York City life sciences market and really shows that companies and institutions from outside of the city are taking note of the emergence of the local research ecosystem here,” Matthew Weir, executive vice president at Taconic Partners, said in a statement.
The Hudson Research Center at 619 West 54th Street is a 320,000-square-foot, mixed-use hub in New York City’s life sciences sector. Taconic Partners and Silverstein Properties are currently repositioning three floors of the property from office to wet laboratory. The research center has also attracted top industry players such as the New York Stem Cell Foundation, cancer therapy firm HiberCell, and the Bill Gates-backed c16 Biosciences.
In 2021, New York City’s life sciences market saw its highest demand for lab space, record-breaking leasing activity, and record-breaking venture capital and National Institutes of Health funding with a combined $4.15 billion.
“The life sciences sector is at the center of New York’s economic and public health future, and this project represents an important step forward toward that future,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.
RPI focuses on biotech, life sciences, computational sciences, engineering, energy, environment, smart systems and nanotechnology. The institution claims to be the nation’s oldest technological research university, bringing scientific and technological advances for nearly 200 years.
Barbara Winter of JLL (JLL) represented the tenant. Jonathan Schifrin of CBRE (CBRE) represented the owners along with Taconic’s Weir.
Gregory Cornfield can be reached at gcornfield@commercialobserver.com.
