407 E. 61st St.
For all the state-of-the-art amenities and technological treats of Weill Cornell Medical College's new research and administration building at 407 E. 61st St., the building's single most impressive trait may be that it's completed.
Just 18 months after workers started gutting what was then a commercial parking garage, the building — entirely renovated by and the first wholly operated Medical College structure located off the main campus — is already filled with more than 200 researchers and administrative staff, with more scheduled to move in this summer.
"A project of this magnitude could normally take as long as three years," said Frank Kubicek, project manager with the Medical College's Office of Capital Planning.
"All we did was work furiously," Mr. Kubicek said. "At some times, we had nearly 200 workers in here getting things done."
Work on the interior of the 90,000-square-foot building continues even as some of the building's tenants are settling in.
The building comprises a mix of administrative offices and laboratories.
The first two floors are dedicated to administrative work, with the Institute for Clinical Research, Research/Compliance, and Grants and Contracts sections of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs occupying the first floor. On the second floor is the new Weill Cornell Medical College administrative home for the Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) and the office of Program Director Dr. Julianne Imperato-McGinley, associate dean of translational research and education. The open floor plan and the state-of-the-art videoconferencing facilities will be used to host outreach events and promote collaboration among CTSC partner institutions.
An office on the first floor for the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.
Floors three and four comprise the laboratories and offices of Dr. Costantino Iadecola, the George C. Cotzias Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience.
Dr. Iadecola's labs were designed according to a new template that Mr. Kubicek said may be duplicated at the Medical College's new Biomedical Research Building, slated to start construction this summer on 69th Street. The layout of Dr. Iadecola's labs splits each floor into three areas, with special procedure rooms that house dedicated functions and large equipment on one end, and offices on the other. Between the two is a generous and flexible laboratory space.
Dr. Kendall Smith, the Rochelle Belfer Professor in Medicine, will move into the fifth floor this summer.
Support mechanism and operational equipment will occupy the bulk of the building's remaining space.
The building's location affords impressive views of the 59th Street Bridge.
Photography by Amelia Panico.