Old Sears Makes New Home for NYU Medical Facility

NYU Langone Health has opened a 260,000-square-foot ambulatory center in Garden City, N.Y., an adaptive reuse of a former Bloomingdale’s and Sears building. This is the tenant’s largest care center of this type on Long Island.

The property has been under Steel Equities ownership since 2018, when the company purchased it from Sears Holdings for $10 million, according to Nassau County records. The sale came as a result of all Sears department stores closing during that period. In 2020, the property became subject to two loans totaling $23.7 million, CommercialEdge data shows.

Designed by architect Edward Durrell Stone and completed in 1972, the Class A building rises four stories. After a two-year vacancy, NYU Langone Health announced in 2020 a proposal to redevelop the building into a medical center. It was reported at that time that the tenant would sign a 35-year lease if the project went through, while also taking over the renovation activity.

A new Long Island medical center

NYU Langone Ambulatory Care Garden City includes 260 patient rooms, an expanded adult ophthalmology service and houses 32 clinical specialties. The medical services provided include cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, internal medicine, surgical specialties, OB/GYN, pediatrics, radiology and pulmonology. Medical imaging is also available.

The 6.7-acre property is at 1111 Franklin Ave., some 25 miles east of New York City. Medical centers in the surrounding area include the NYU Langone Hospital Long Island, North Shore University Hospital and Nassau University Medical Center, among others.

Conversion to outpatient clinics

Underused or vacant commercial space is increasingly being repurposed, as remote and hybrid work, alongside the closing of retail spaces in the 2010s and the office sector’s overall situation are opening the scene for present-day conversions. Medical office projects are no strangers to this trend.

Another such example is Anchor Health Properties’ Woodlands Medical Plaza in the Seattle area. The three-story property came online in 2007 as an office building, which was then converted into a medical center.

Richardson Medical Center in Richardson, Texas, is another similar case. Pillar Commercial acquired the two-building portfolio in 2019 with health-care conversion in mind. One of the assets was sold in November 2023 to Big Sky Medical.