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The increasing demand for affordable housing in New York has raised questions about converting part of a proposed life-science workspace into residential units, but city officials have deemed the plan unviable, The Real Deal reported on Tuesday.
The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is planning to redevelop eastern Manhattan’s Kips Bay neighborhood — located between East 23rd and East 34th Street — into the Science Park and Research Campus (SPARC), a 2.19 million-square-foot hub for life sciences, healthcare and academic spaces.
Life-science workspaces are labs or workspaces housed in biotech or pharmaceutical buildings, designed to support research and development.
Located at Hunter College’s Brookdale Campus, the SPARC site will support innovation in the life-sciences sector, capitalizing on Kips Bay’s proximity to major medical institutions like NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and New York University (NYU), home to more than 44,000 jobs in science and healthcare.
During a recent hearing, City Council candidate Ben Wetzler proposed incorporating housing into the SPARC project. However, NYCEDC’s Adam Grossman Meagher responded that the focus on job creation outweighs the possibility of adding residential units.
“Space is limited, and we have to make choices,” he said, emphasizing the need for jobs to support affordable housing.
While Mayor Eric Adams has introduced initiatives like the “24-in-24” plan to advance affordable housing on public land, according to The Real Deal, the city is prioritizing the SPARC project for its potential to generate 3,100 permanent jobs and deliver a projected $42 billion economic impact over the next 30 years.
A COVID-era boom in life-science workspaces, accelerated by remote work trends during the pandemic, led developers to convert traditional office spaces into labs, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Since 2020, over 59 million square feet of new life-science spaces have been added nationwide, with another 19.1 million square feet in the pipeline. This represents a significant jump compared to the pre-pandemic average of 3.7 million square feet added annually, according to real estate firm JLL.
Post-pandemic, however, cities like San Diego, South San Francisco and Boston have seen increased vacancies due to cooling demand, driven by high interest rates and economic uncertainty, per CBRE Group.
Despite the softening demand for life-science spaces in some areas, New York City is proceeding with the SPARC Kips Bay project to address critical needs in the life sciences and healthcare sectors.
