NYC Poison Control Center Eyes 215 Lexington Avenue as Office Antidote

The New York City Poison Center wants new office space at The Somerset Group’s 215 Lexington Avenue after its current lab at 455 First Avenue was slated for demolition, city records show.

The city’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) — which handles leasing for the city — requested approval to sign a lease for 11,500 square feet of office space on 215 Lexington Avenue’s 12th floor, according to an application filed with the New York City Planning Commission on Aug. 15. The New York Business Journal first reported the news.

Spokespeople for the DCAS and Somerset did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It’s unclear who brokered the deal.

The 21-story, 245,000-square-foot office building in Kips Bay that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has chosen for the poison center has been home to many other life sciences operations, such as medical lab Speedy Sticks and Affiliates Risk Management Services, according to the companies’ websites.

The poison center, which operates a 24/7 hotline and provides toxicology training, aims to have nine departments, 37 workstations, a storage room, conference rooms and more in its new space, the Business Journal reported.

Its search for a new home comes after its current lab at the 12-story 455 First was set to be demolished as part of Innovation East, a new “state-of-the-art life science hub,” according to the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

The poison center has said it needs to remain close to the Bellevue Hospital Center, as “location is paramount” and “related to the benefit of public health needs on a statewide level,” the city said in the filing.

A spokesperson for the Health Department told Commercial Observer that the poison center’s move is “part of a groundbreaking modernization” of the agency’s NYC Public Health Laboratory. That lab — which studies bacteria — is moving into a 10-story, 240,000-square-foot building at 40 West 137th Street in Harlem. The $454 million building will be located next to the Harlem Hospital complex on 137th Street and is set to be completed in 2026, according to the department.

“As part of that transition, the NYC Poison Center is also moving out of the building at 455 First Avenue to 215 Lexington Avenue,” a Health Department spokesperson said in a statement.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.