1.5-million-square-foot WPC is intended as an international, multi-purpose trade center where healthcare providers and vendors can interact. It's being developed by a partnership of the Greater New York Hospital Assoc. and Extell Development Corp.

Joining Cardinal, an $87-billion manufacturer and distributor of healthcare products, at WPC will be Zimmer, Inc., Encompass Group and private equity partnership Roundtable Healthcare Partners and the seven portfolio companies that comprise it. In a release, John Strong, president of WPC Marketing, says the new tenants are "at the forefront of the healthcare industry and we are looking forward to introducing more charter industry and education partners in the coming months."

In the planning stages for years, WPC will be built on the site of the former Copacabana nightclub at 555 W. 33rd St., near the Jacob J. Javits Convention Center. Michael Resnick, EVP of WPC, notes in a release that the New York metro area offers "many benefits" for international companies looking to create or expand their US presence.

"With 480 acute care facilities within 300 miles, half of all US teaching hospitals located in the region, and a high density of practicing physicians and other clinicians in this area, leveraging WPC for regional, and ultimately national, sales and marketing activities offers enormous opportunity," Resnick asserts. "Not to mention that half-a-billion business visitors and tourists are expected to visit New York City across the next decade."