The Reporter: June 1995, Vol.6, No.3
Audubon News: Retail Businesses to Open Soon

The first Audubon building will be more than a location for commercial biomedical and technology firms: It also will provide the neighborhood and the Medical Center community with new and expanded storefront retail services.

Six retail businesses will open outlets in the new Audubon facility, all of them accessible directly from the street along Broadway or 166th Street.

Chemical Bank has already relocated and is operating in the restored Audubon Ballroom portion of the building complex. Barnes and Noble bookstore will relocate from the Black Building and will provide an expanded trade book and popular book inventory in addition to class texts and medical books. "This will be the only significant trade book outlet in Washington Heights, something that is badly needed for the community and the Medical Center," says Mitch Gipson, Audubon's executive director.

West End Gate, a popular eating place near the Morningside campus, will open a full-service restaurant at Audubon in October. The menu and entertainment will be similar to that provided in the Morningside location. "When spring comes, they'll also have outdoor seating," Mr. Gipson says. Taco Madre, an Upper West Side Mexican takeout restaurant, will operate in conjunction with West End Gate.

Joe's Pizza, formerly located at 168th Street and St. Nicholas, will relocate to the Audubon site and also offer outdoor seating, Mr. Gipson says. It will open in July. A takeout coffee bar will open later in the fall.

"The combination of eating establishments with the bank and the bookstore will create a very desirable location for the whole community around Audubon," Mr. Gipson says. "Our intention is that these retail services serve not only Medical Center people but people who live and work in the community."

All storefront retail space has been committed.

Mr. Gipson also reports that negotiations with initial prospective tenants for the commercial biomedical laboratory space are proceeding well. "We're in the final stage of lease discussions with the company we expect to be the first commercial laboratory tenant," he says. The company is owned by a former Columbia faculty member who has strong ties here and who has already started other successful enterprises. Offers also have been made to a number of other prospective commercial laboratory tenants, and inquiries about space are increasing daily.

About 60,000 square feet of core and shell commercial laboratory space are available, which can be subdivided into spaces as small as 500 square feet. "One of our principal objectives in Audubon is to provide an incubator for the smallest and newest of companies," he says. "We want to nurture them by offering subsidized rents, good space, and other services." Columbia faculty or researchers who are interested in knowing more about the commercial leasing opportunities should contact Mr. Gipson.

William N. Bernstein and Associates Architects has been selected to design space for incoming tenants. The New York-based firm has planned and designed several laboratory facilities at CPMC. Groundbreaking for Next Facility

The groundbreaking for the second facility in the Audubon Research Park, the Center for Disease Prevention, is set for June 26. CDP will be the first facility in the Audubon Park to house academic research. The 170,000-square-foot facility will have five research floors consisting of about 100,000 gross square feet, space for an animal facility on the top floor, and an underground parking level. Like the first facility, it will have storefront retail space. The facility will stand at the north end of the research park, between 167th and 168th streets, fronting along St. Nicholas Avenue.

CDP is funded through a combination of federal and state grants, a gift from the Fairchild Foundation, and University sources. It will be completed in August 1997. When finished, the ground-level parking at the rear of the site will be restored.