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Modern office lounge with wood paneled walls and semi-circular seating banquette. The floor features blue stone tile in a circle, surrounded by gray terrazzo. In the center is a round table surrounded by upholstered chairs and large circular ceiling lights above. Two round seating pods line the other wall to the right.

West End Labs Wins CIB of NYC Award for Adaptive Reuse

August 4, 2026 | Project Update | Events

The transformation of 125 West End Avenue into West End Labs, a 400,000 SF, LEED Gold life sciences hub, has been given the 2026 Roger H. Corbetta award for adaptive reuse from the Concrete Industry Board of New York.

Originally built in the 1920s as a Chrysler automotive showroom and then repurposed by ABC and Disney as their New York City studio space, the structure offered a robust industrial “chassis” for this challenging conversion.

DeSimone’s structural engineers preserved and selectively reinforced the existing seven‑story reinforced concrete building to support the new desired program with laboratories requiring robust infrastructure. Our structural interventions strengthened concrete elements, including the historic Helix ramp, as well as introduced new large slab penetrations and added a network of concrete and steel structural elements to support the MEP‑intensive lab space.

One complex intervention involved "The Helix," a historic, 60-foot-wide circular car ramp in the interior of the original automotive facility that we transformed into a sloping, multi-level lounge and common collaboration space. Structurally, we removed the Helix’s ramps at the first and second floors, replacing them with flat structure to increase usable square footage.  On other levels within the remaining spiral, new structural and light gauge steel was used to frame out lightweight conference "pods" and tiered seating.

Outside, our façade experts reskinned the building with high-performance glazed curtain wall—significantly improving thermal performance and optimizing natural light—lowering the original windowsills and opening the concrete perimeter to accommodate the new façade, which required reinforcement and remediation of the existing concrete building perimeter structure.

The award will be presented at the Annual Roger H. Corbetta Awards on October 28, 2026.

Congratulations to the entire DeSimone structural team, including Managing Principal Mukesh Parikh, PE, Associate Principal Calogero Castania, PE, Senior Project Manager Krishna Tanuku, PE, and the façade and building envelope team, including Principal Rok Lee, AIA, and Associate Principal Benjamin Reich, AIA.

Developer: Taconic, Architect: Perkins + Will, MEP: JB&B, General Contractor: JRM Construction

In recent news, West End Labs was purchased by the Pershing Square Foundation to serve as home for the Ackman Oxman Institute. Read more here.