What Choice Did Billy Macklowe Have?

We’re so excited about Bisnow’s NYC Healthcare Real Estate Summit on Jan. 29 that our hearts are racing. There may not be a cardiologist in the house, but we know there'll be plenty of hospital administrators, plus investor Billy Macklowe, who’s making a medical play at the 250k SF 156 William St Downtown.

Yesterday, the William Macklowe Co CEO laid out his reasons for remaking his first Downtown building for medical tenants once the City moves out of 120k SF of contiguous space in June. The nearby NY-Presby/Lower Manhattan isn’t going anywhere, he says, especially now that the only other acute-care facility below 14th Street, St. Vincent’s, is closed (demand driver No. 1). Meanwhile, office buildings continue to switch to residential (demand driver No. 2). And the WTC and other Class-B office plays are bringing more workers Downtown, just as MOBs are shifting to commercial centers as workers find doctors near their offices (demand driver No. 3). Sign up here for Bisnow’s big healthcare event!

Two legacy medical tenants are in the building, and the lobby and concourse are up for grabs. That means Billy can offer branding and flexible uses, perhaps even an ambulatory care center. He has a healthcare architecture specialist on board, and a few medical users have reached out. Creative thinking also worked at 386 Park Ave S (that's the lobby, above), where Billy says it went with full-floor pre-builts (13.5k SF floorplates) off the bat. The building has done six deals totaling 80k SF (that’s more than half the 50% vacancy at which his company took the building) just 15 months after acquiring it.