Yeshiva University plans to build a new, state-of-the-art health sciences campus at the Herald Center, sources told Realty Check. Insiders described purchasing a condo with a 32-year lease that will bring the mixed-use property across from Macy’s back to 100% occupancy.
According to sources, YU will have 160,000 square feet of space on floors 5 through 9 of the Herald Center, as well as parts of the ground floor and mezzanine – a significant expansion of its Midtown footprint.
The deal couldn’t come at a better time for landlord JEMB Realty Corporation, led by Morris Bailey and Joseph L. Jerome, as it needed a new tenant to replace ASA College when it moves out in 2022.
The ten-story, 250,000-square-foot building at 1293 Broadway between West 33rd and West 34th Streets houses a massive H&M store, as well as Bank of America and Verizon at the retail level.
JEMB did not respond to requests to confirm the deal or comment. The yeshiva’s president, Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, called the new location “an expression of our strategic growth as a leader in health education.”
The brightly lit Herald Center occupies the site of an EJ Korvette department store that was converted into a shopping center in the early 1980s.
