MCL Takes Manhattan

NEW YORK CITY—MCL Cos. is straying from its Chicago home to construct a 27-story tower and convert a vacant hospital building into a condominium at 455 Central Park West here. The $200-million project will have 97 units in the mid-rise and 19 in the existing building. Built in 1886 in the style of a French chateau, for a time the hospital housed the organization that became the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and from the ’50s to the ’70s it was a nursing home. The sale price wasn’t disclosed, but sources pegged it at roughly $20 million.

“Like the hospital, that part of Manhattan has been neglected for a long time,” says MCL vice president Kevin Augustyn. “But now it’s attracting a lot of attention. We prefer to do redevelopment projects in gentrifying neighborhoods, and Central Park West is a perfect example of that.”