NORTHWELL TEAMS WITH NONPROFIT DEVELOPER TO BUILD MAJOR UPPER EAST SIDE OUTPATIENT CENTER

Northwell Health plans to redevelop an Upper East Side block as an ambulatory care and cancer center. The move follows the sale of six buildings by GPG Properties for $232.2 million to the nonprofit developer University Financing Foundation, which is working with Northwell on the project. The nonprofit helps finance and develop facilities for education and research institutions, according to its website.

The 194,000-square-foot parcel, made up of 2- and 4-story buildings, runs between East 76th and East 77th streets on Third Avenue. Zoning in the area allows for development of up to 278,000 square feet. GPG Properties is the investment arm of the Glick family's three-generation real estate business, which has a portfolio of about 1,200 residential and retail units in Manhattan. Crain's first reportedonNorthwell's plan in September.

"We felt as though the best value was as a potential redevelopment," said Jason Glick, co-managing director of GPG Properties. "I feel strongly that's a very big benefit for the community, especially because a number of other medical uses on the Upper East Side are located far east, not very close to all the public transportation the Upper East Side has to offer, namely the 4, 5 and 6 trains."

The center for outpatient care, ambulatory surgery, cancer care and medical offices is located just one avenue east of Northwell's Lenox Hill Hospital. Most of the Upper East Side's major medical facilities are on York Avenue, where Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and Hospital for Special Surgery are all located.

"We are deeply invested in the Upper East Side and look forward to the potential to provide additional services in the neighborhood and surrounding communities," Michael Dowling, president and chief executive officer of Northwell Health, said in a statement.

Northwell is looking to attract patients that might otherwise go to Memorial Sloan Kettering. "It's our intent to establish a major cancer care facility in Manhattan," a spokesman said. "This would enable us to significantly expand what we're doing at Lenox Hill."

The spokesman said the developer would first have to complete abatement of the site and demolition, which could take up to a year. No construction timetable has been set. Northwell plans to lease the property from the foundation, possibly with the option to buy it, he said.

Glick said GPG would reinvest the proceeds of the sale into four multifamily properties on the Upper West Side as well as multifamily buildings in Nashville, Atlanta and Charlotte. He declined to specify the location of the Manhattan sales, which have not yet closed.

Previous retail tenants of the Third Avenue buildings included McCabe's Wine and Spirits, Capital One, Atlantic Grill, the boutique Niquea.D, Z'Baby Co. and Haru Sushi. GPG sold the buildings as vacant, with tenants leaving as their leases expired or forced out by early termination clauses in their contracts.

Blue Sky Real Estate Services and Development helped arrange the transaction for the University Financing Foundation.

By JONATHAN LAMANTIA