Roosevelt I.'s Southtown will provide 2,000 new apartments.

Construction is to begin next month on Southtown, a nine-building complex with 2,000 units on the southern end of Roosevelt Island. Southtown, one of the largest residential developments to move forward in New York in recent memory, is a development of The Hudson Companies, Inc. and The Related Companies LP. The market-rate housing will offer residents spectacular views of Manhattan, a waterfront setting, and full-service buildings just minutes away from midtown Manhattan.

Two of the buildings and a portion of a third will be occupied by the staff of leading medical institutions in Manhattan. The three 16-story buildings comprise Phase 1 of the Southtown development.

The first building is being developed for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which will use the 256 apartments for their employee housing, including professionals, support staff, and trainees. Mindful that they need affordable family housing to retain their staff, Sloan Kettering has equipped the building with a large day-care center and a health club.

"This will be a wonderful addition to the staff housing program at Sloan Kettering," said Michael Gutnick, the Center's senior vice president of finance.

The second building is committed to the Weill Cornell Medical College, which will house its staff in the 139 apartments. Cornell's building will include recreational facilities that will complement those of its neighbors and provide its residents with a full array of amenities.

"We're very excited at this opportunity to offer our faculty and post-doctoral fellows superb, yet affordable housing, within 25 minutes of the campus, and with some of the best views of Manhattan," stated Barry Duignan, P E., senior director of facilities management. Richard. Sens-Castet, director of facilities systems management and real estate for Cornell, added "Roosevelt Island offers the benefit of being a part of the Manhattan community, while providing residents the amenities arid open spaces for recreation and leisure activities generally found only at much greater distances from the city center."

The third building will be a rental building co-developed by Hudson and Related. Hudson/Related has already pre-leased three floors to the Animal Medical Center, which will use the housing for its staff, residents, and interns. Gruzen Samton Architects and Schuman Lichtenstein Claman Efron Architects have designed all three buildings.

The three medical institutions leasing in Southtown are all located across the river from Roosevelt Island with access by train, subway (the B and Q lines), car, and in the future, possibly, by ferry. "When we first started to think about the residential market for Southtown," said David Kramer of Hudson, "we thought it would be an attractive alternative to the Upper East Side for hospitals and schools located on the water. We hit on this marketing approach and were delighted to find there was a huge level of interest from these institutions in search of nearby affordable housing."

In addition to providing opportunities to institutions, Hudson/Related's future buildings also will provide more private residential units. "We are very excited about the residential amenities we can offer at Southtown," noted David Wine, vice chairman of Related. "In addition to terrific views and great transportation, Roosevelt Island has athletic fields, jogging paths, a beautiful promenade, and great open space."

Southtown will be one of New York City's newest and most dynamic residential communities. Surrounded by water and featuring dramatic views of the Manhattan skyline, the development will be bordered by the Tram station, existing housing to the north, and East River Promenades to the east and west.

Plans call for nine buildings with as many as 2,000 units to be built on a 19-acre, mostly vacant site. Southtown was originally designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee as part of their master plan for Roosevelt Island to be the companion village to Northtown, the existing Roosevelt Island community, built between 1975-1987.

"We have been waiting a long time to build Southtown," noted Roosevelt Island operating corporation president Robert Ryan, "and we are looking forward to adding this vibrant new housing stock to this great island."

Initial efforts to develop Southtown began in 1988, when RIOC, the State agency which manages and maintains the island, sought developers to build the new community. After a halt caused by the real estate downturn of the early '90s, the RIOC was ready to proceed again and issued a Request for Qualifications to developers in 1996. Through this process, RIOC selected The Hudson Companies and The Related Companies, which subsequently formed a joint venture to co-develop the site.

Hudson and Related hired the architectural firms of Gruzen Samton and Davis Brody Bond to re-design the master plan of Southtown. The architects have in turn designed a village of nine new buildings, ranging in height from 16 to 28 stories, and located along a new extension of Main St., the spine of Roosevelt Island, as well as its only street.

At the heart of Southtown lies The Common, a public plaza directly behind Roosevelt Island's subway station, designed by the architectural landscape firm of Matthews Neilsen. Other amenities include a new soccer field and a new softball field, which will both be completed during Phase I.