Overview 

Mt. Sinai Hospital in conjunction with the Durst Organization and Sidney Fetner & Associates are looking to finance the construction of a new proposed medical facility by building a gigantic residential condominium at 4 East 102^nd Street.  Sound familiar?  St. Vincent’s hospital is looking to do something similar downtown with the help of Bill Rudin.  The Sinai tower would be somewhere in the range of 600 feet high and 40 stories—the tallest building in the area.  The sale of the condos would help to pay for a new 11-story Medical Center on Madison Avenue between 101^st and 102^nd.  The architect for both the medical center and the residential development is Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.  The Board of Standards & Appeals will have the final say on the proposal at a meeting on July 1^st.  Should the project proposal be approved by the board, it would become one of the tallest residential buildings in the upper 5th neighborhood as well as the largest development at the Mt. Sinai Hospital since the creation of the Annenberg building in 1976.

Like the St. Vincent’s Hospital development, the Mt. Sinai proposal had previously been received poorly by the neighborhood. The community board, headed by its Chairman Robert Rodriguez, recently voted against the project on May 20^th citing that the absence of a provision for affordable housing could potentially have a negative impact on the community. Other critics of the project have argued that the tower would create a shadow over local playgrounds as well as part of Central Park.  In addition, the project faced other issues.  The project’s layout didn’t meet city zoning requirements, the height of the project would reduce the sunlight exposure of its side streets.

In defense of the project, Mt Sinai conducted an environmental review that concluded that the project would not cast a significant shadow on the open spaces in the park.  In direct response to the criticisms raised by the community board, Jordan Borowitz, a representative for Durst, argued that while residences would be sold at a market rate, the proposal would ultimately generate an estimated 650 healthcare jobs as well as improved health care services. The project would involve the razing of three of four of the current hospital buildings as well as an extensive redevelopment that is expected to be completed in 2011.  Pending the board’s approval on July 1^st, Mt. Sinai Hospital hopes to begin the development as early as this summer.

Price Speculation – Investment Potential

Assuming that residences in the building will be priced at market, one would expect initial pricing somewhere around $1,500 per foot.  By the time the tower gets built, presumably in 2010, those prices could well be $2,000/foot and up.  The developers can easily justify these price tags with direct central park access (to the beautiful conservatory gardens) and southwest exposures which will be some of the best in the city.  One can only imagine what the Central Park exposures will be like from 40 floors up.  The bigger question may be the housing market in Manhattan—specifically in this tricky section of East Harlem.  1200 Fifth Avenue demonstrates this concern.  It’s a beautiful pre-war conversion which has been selling slowly, in part because it’s a little far north.  Savvy buyers realize that the Madison Avenue side of 103^rd Street isn’t nearly as pretty as the 5^th Avenue side.  Many would call it an undesirable place to drop $3M on an apartment.  Time will tell… and we’ll have our ears open after that July 1^st meeting.