By:  Don Driggers

Real estate developer Elevate Research Properties, a subsidiary of Taconic Partners, plans to name a cutting-edge research facility it’s building at the birthplace of Lou Gehrig, called Iron Horse Labs. It’s a tribute to the great first baseman who died in 1941 at age 37, a victim of the paralyzing condition known as ALS, which is commonly called “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”

The 200,000 square-foot project, reported here for the first time, will be leased as a potential “flagship opportunity to medical and scientific research organizations, life-science laboratories and academic medical institutions,” Weir said.

Elevate and its partners, Nuveen Real Estate and Flatiron Equities, bought the land for $70 million, part of their total $350 million development cost. The new building will have features such as a unique, double-height specialty research space, sophisticated energy-efficient systems and several outdoor terraces.

An exterior plaque at the site marking Gehrig’s birthplace, installed by the Yankees in the 1990s, is to be restored and re-installed in the lobby.

According to its web page, Elevate Research Properties builds, manages, and operates premier life science real estate facilities in strategic core markets. Elevate is a wholly owned subsidiary of Taconic Partners and is responsible for all activities in the life science portfolio including acquisitions, debt and equity capital markets, design, development and construction, leasing, tenant community engagement, operations, and property management.

Iron Horse’s eight stories are to incorporate an existing five-story structure and new construction on the site of small buildings to be demolished. The facade design includes triangular sun-shading elements meant to resemble baseball pennants, reports The New York Post.

Elevate also owns two other Manhattan science facilities — West End Labs at 125 West End Ave. and Hudson Research Center at 619 W. 54th St. But Iron Horse, to be completed in 2025, has the advantage of being close to the East 96th Street Q train station and to medical institutions nearby such as Mount Sinai, Rockefeller University and Weill Cornell.

“It could be leased to a single institution, but the infrastructure makes it suitable for multiple tenants as well,” Weir said.

According to Wikipedia, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles.

ALS is the most common form of the motor neuron diseases. Early symptoms of ALS include stiff muscles, muscle twitches, and gradual increasing weakness and muscle wasting. Limb-onset ALS begins with weakness in the arms or legs, while bulbar-onset ALS begins with difficulty speaking or swallowing. Around half of people with ALS develop at least mild difficulties with thinking and behavior, and about 15% develop frontotemporal dementia. Motor neuron loss continues until the ability to eat, speak, move, and finally the ability to breathe is lost with the cause of early death usually being respiratory failure.