NYC’s morgue is moving on down, but staying on the East Side.
A new public health education hub is coming to 455 First Ave. in Manhattan, located near the city’s medical examiner’s office, where autopsies are performed on victims of suspicious crimes and other forensic research is conducted.
City and state officials said on Tuesday that the morgue will move from 30th Street to 25th Street on First Ave. to be part of the upcoming Science Park and Research Campus (SPARC) Kips Bay, a CUNY center that will provide education for students looking to enter healthcare, life sciences and similar fields.
The center, once opened, is expected to create 15,000 jobs and generate over $42 billion in economic impact, Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference announcing the project alongside Gov. Kathy Hochul and NYC Economic Development Corporation officials on Dec. 23.
Deconstruction of the current site, which officials called “obsolete” is expected to begin in February 2026, with construction of the new SPARC campus expected to begin in 2027. Planning for the project began in 2022.
Officials said the new learning facility will feature modern classrooms and lab facilities, including a wet lab that supports public health research, where students will get hands-on experience. Although CUNY learning currently takes place at the site, officials will add more than 2 million square feet of academic space over an entire block once the project is completed.
Ayman El-Mohandes, a dean at CUNY’s Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, said the move is about more than just additional space.
“It’s about finally having the infrastructure to match our ambitions for training future public health professionals and advancing research that matters to communities across New York,” he said, adding that the school has outgrown the current space.
Adams touted the economic and industry benefits of the project.
“SPARC Kips Bay will transform an entire New York City block into a state-of-the-art destination for the life sciences and healthy industry,” he said. “We thank our partners, NYC Economic Development Corporation, CUNY and, especially, Governor Hochul for her steadfast support and leadership.”
CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez called the soon-to-come facility a “transformational project” that will strengthen the city university system.
“SPARC Kips Bay will expand pathways into public health careers for our students and provide state-of-the-art facilities for our faculty who are conducting research for the public good,” he said.
Meanwhile, the medical examiner’s office will relocate the autopsy facilities and mortuary to the SPARC Kips Bay center once it opens. Chief Medical Examiner Jason Graham, MD, is looking forward to the move
“The SPARC Kips Bay project heralds a new era for our agency and the neighborhood we have called home for more than a century,” he said. “With the groundbreaking today, we take a concrete step toward the vision of a state-of-the-art forensic pathology center that will serve New Yorkers 24/7 and educate the next generation of leaders in forensic science and medicine.”
Separate from the medical examiner’s office, the city’s Public Health Lab, which provides clinical and environmental laboratory services is currently housed at 455 First. Ave. but will move to a new, “state-of-the-art” science hub in Harlem.
