CBRE Group, Inc. announced that John Isaacs, executive vice president and the company’s New York City Life Science practice leader, has been named to the City University of New York’s Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) Leadership Council.
“John Isaacsʼ participation will help ensure that the mission and goals of the ASRC are fully realized in the coming years,” said Dr. Gillian Small, CUNY Vice Chancellor for Research and Executive Director of the ASRC.
In joining the ASRC Leadership Council, Isaacs noted its support for New York City’s Life Sciences business sector.
“New York City is poised for exponential growth in Life Sciences, and the ASRC is a valuable resource in that expansion. Already, the city possesses an impressive concentration of intellectual capital, and with the continued strong growth of our academic and business communities, New York will be even more attractive to emerging world-class life sciences talent,” he said.
The ASRC is the keystone of CUNY’s Decade of Science, an initiative launched in 2005 to help position CUNY as a research institution and reinforce its commitment to advancing scientific research and education.
Isaacs, who has long made a study of the real estate requirements of NYC’s Life Sciences sector, commented: “From a real estate standpoint, we need a lot more new and highly specialized inventory for laboratories, research and development and incubator space for us to successfully reach our potential and compete with global bioscience hubs like Boston and San Francisco.”
However, the city is well-positioned to be the world’s next leading Life Sciences center, he says, noting that New York’s academic and medical institutions employ more than 29,000 physicians and more than 165,000 medical workers.
The city is home to 30,500 science and engineering graduate students and postdoctoral students, and 165,000 medical students. Combined, these skilled professionals are a strong attraction for major life sciences companies.
The latest such company to put down stakes in New York City is Nestlé Skin Health, which announced its 16-year, full-floor lease for 30,400 s/f in the Alexandria Center for Life Science’s West Tower in Manhattan. Nestlé will oepn its first innovation hub as part of a network of research and development centers. Isaacs represented the tenant in the lease.
