Construction has started on a new $260 million, 16-story, 173,000-square-foot residence for Weill Cornell Medicine students on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The project is slated to be completed by 2025 and nearly double the existing student residential living space.
Turner Construction is the construction manager of the student housing building, designed by Perkins&Will. It will be located on the northwest corner of East 74th Street and York Avenue on the site of a former church. Weill Cornell Medicine acquired the former Church of the Epiphany in 2019 for $68 million, according to Patch.com.
Situated four blocks from Weill Cornell Medicine’s existing campus of clinical, research and educational buildings, the new residence hall will house 272 graduate and medical students and feature 163 studios, seven one-bedroom and 51 two-bedroom apartments. All units will be equipped with a full kitchen.
The student housing building will feature communal spaces including study nooks, meeting rooms, yoga and music rooms and a fitness center, student lounge with access to an outdoor garden, multipurpose activity court and rooftop lounge with an adjoining terrace.
Eco-friendly design
The student residence will feature green construction methods and the institution will seek LEED Gold certification for the project. The energy-efficient building will use an all-electric HVAC technology featuring air-cooled air source heat pumps. An air-cooled refrigerant unit with energy recovery will provide outside air ventilation. The building will also conserve water and have energy-efficient lighting fixtures.
All apartments will feature at least one large window with one- and two-bedroom units strategically located at the building corners for two exposures. The overall design will incorporate natural light through features including a recess that spans the length of the building along the southern façade.
The new residence hall’s construction is being funded in part by $122 million in donations, including significant gifts from Jeffrey Feil, a New York-based real estate developer and president and CEO of The Feil Organization, and Sanford I. “Sandy” Weill, former CEO and chairman of Citigroup, as well as their families, other longtime donors and the institution’s alumni.
