Taconic Sells UES Life Sciences Site to LCOR For $73M
Taconic Partners has sold an Upper East Side property where it once planned to build a large life sciences project.
The developer sold 309 East 94th Street to multifamily developer LCOR for $73 million, slightly more than the $70 million Taconic, Nuveen and Flatiron Equities paid for the property five years ago, according to property records.
The joint venture acquired the building in an all-cash deal from the Karten family in December 2021, ending the family’s nearly four-decade ownership of the property.
The roughly 87,000-square-foot assemblage spans 309 East 94th Street and 324 East 95th Street, running block-through between First and Second avenues. The property includes a five-story loft-style building, a two-story garage and an auto shop.
Taconic had envisioned transforming the site into Iron Horse Labs, an eight-story, 200,000-square-foot research facility. The proposed development was pitched as a rare commercial life sciences project on the Upper East Side, near the city’s major academic medical institutions and the Second Avenue subway.
The developers received a $79 million construction loan from Ares Commercial Real Estate to redevelop the property in 2022. Construction started in 2023, according to New York YIMBY, but it is unclear whether the work was completed.
The sale comes after Taconic shed another property. In July, the firm sold 125 West End Avenue in Lincoln Square to Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Foundation for $188 million. Elevate Research Properties, a subsidiary of Taconic Partners, also owns a life sciences facility at 619 West 14th Street. It also owns West End Labs on the Upper West Side.
New York’s life sciences market has cooled from its pandemic-era boom. The city recorded just 27,000 square feet of lab leasing in the first quarter, down 84 percent from the prior quarter, according to CBRE. Year-to-date leasing velocity was down 10 percent year-over-year, according to CBRE.
Representatives from Taconic and LCOR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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