By Talia Page

Ask any non-New Yorker what comes to mind when they think of New York City, and you’ll likely get one of three responses: Wall Street, Broadway, or the Statue of Liberty. These cover important aspects of the city: money, theater/art, and the promise of freedom. But what about science?

In 2004 Mayor Bloomberg and Andrew Alper, President of the Economic Development Corporation, unveiled a plan for a commercial science center in a city-owned chunk area of Kips Bay that would attract the world’s top scientists. If successful, the East River Science Park will be as well known as Central Park.

The Science Park location will not only be beautiful, but it will be a convenient hop, skip, and/or jump from New York’s major institutions, including  Rockefeller, Beth Israel, Weill Cornell, Mount Sinai, Memorial Sloan Kettering and NYU. The park itself will be a campus setting that spans 4.5 acres,  870,000 square feet of which will be used for office and retail space. A minimum of 46,600 square feet will be reserved as open space near the East River waterfront. For more information  on design, planning, and amenities offered at the park, see the Alexandria website (link: http://www.alexandrianyc.com/features.html). The first tenants are scheduled to move in this year, so stroll by to meet the new neighbors and check out the space. It promises to be a marriage of geeks and glamour!