ACORE Capital, the lender behind the life sciences facility planned by Georgetown Company and Beacon Capital Partners at 707 11th Avenue and 615 West 50th Street in Hell’s Kitchen, has regained control of the properties. ACORE Capital acquired the former office buildings via a Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure. The value of this transaction was stated as 60 million USD in city documents filed on Wednesday.
Jason Mann, a Managing Director at ACORE, signed the documents on behalf of the new ownership entity, Wexford Investment Trust. John Lawrence, Senior Managing Director at Beacon, had signed the transfer of the property on Wednesday on behalf of the developer. Georgetown and Beacon had acquired the adjacent buildings near the corner of 11th Avenue and West 50th Street in 2021 from SL Green Realty for 95 million USD, as reported by Commercial Observer.
Failed Development and Market Dynamics
The larger building at 707 11th Avenue previously served as the headquarters for clothing and accessories retailer Kenneth Cole. In early 2023, plans were filed to replace the office buildings with a seven-storey life sciences facility. This development was intended to include laboratory, research, and office spaces and would have been Manhattan’s first purpose-built, ground-up life sciences property in a decade, according to New York YIMBY. However, Georgetown and Beacon’s ambitious plans did not progress beyond the pre-development phase.
ACORE subsequently filed a pre-foreclosure action against the owners in April, as reported by PincusCo. ACORE Capital, in its capacity as the administrative agent for the lender, stated that the owners had defaulted on a debt amounting to 60 million USD. This is not an isolated incident: several facilities planned in Manhattan in the years immediately following the 2020 pandemic have changed hands in recent weeks and months.
Transactions in the Life Sciences Sector
- —Taconic Partners’ stalled Iron Horse Labs project at 309 East 94th Street on the Upper East Side was sold to multifamily developer LCOR for 73 million USD, as CO reported on Friday.
- —Taconic’s West End Labs at 125 West End Avenue was sold to Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Foundation for 188 million USD in July.
- —The post-pandemic vacancy rate continues to burden the US life sciences sector.
In New York City, leasing volume in the first quarter of 2026 decreased by 84 percent year-on-year, based on data from CBRE. Spokespersons for Beacon and ACORE did not respond to requests for comment.
