Bill Ackman Just Spent $260 Million on the Upper West Side; Here's What He's Building

Key Points:

• Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Foundation purchased 125 West End Avenue for $190 million and is also acquiring the adjacent building at 320 West 66th Street for $70 million, aiming to create a nearly 700,000-square-foot brain research center called the Ackman Oxman Institute.
• The institute, developed in partnership with Mount Sinai, will focus on genetics, nutrition, longevity, rehabilitation, and include neurosurgery facilities, potentially rivaling major medical research centers in New York City.
• The project was inspired by Ackman’s daughter surviving a brain hemorrhage after experimental treatments at Mount Sinai, and Ackman and his wife Neri Oxman had long considered establishing a brain research institute.
• The development will likely require new Department of Buildings filings and local community review due to the scale and unused development rights involved, signaling potential neighborhood discussions ahead.
• The institute’s board includes prominent figures such as Nobel laureate Jim Rothman and neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, with operations expected to start by the end of the year, though current leasing details for the existing building remain unclear.