American hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is planning to tear down the Saturday Night Live building to make way for his new brain research institute on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, the billionaire revealed at the Fast Company Innovation Festival.
In a conversation with Mansueto Ventures CEO Stephanie Mehta in New York, Ackman shared insights about his plans to transform a piece of Manhattan real estate into a brain research and medical rehabilitation center named the Ackman Oxman Institute.
Ackman’s investments in the life sciences follow a medical incident involving his 26-year-old daughter, who suffered a brain hemorrhage in February 2026.
Ackman first revealed his plan via an X post on August 19, stating that the Pershing Square Foundation had acquired a nearly vacant 400,000 square foot biotech facility on West End Avenue between 65th and 66th Streets.
Additionally, Ackman shared plans to acquire an adjoining 120,000 square foot space on 66th Street, which reportedly houses a Saturday Night Live studio. While he shared at the time that the SNL building was set to close in December, he has yet to reveal further information on the building’s future until the September 15 panel.
“Don’t tell Saturday Night Live yet, but we’re going to tear that down. They’ll probably do an episode about me when we tear down the building,” Ackman said on stage.
Reportedly, Ackman paid almost $260 million for both the biotech facility and the adjacent properties with plans to build a larger medical research campus.
“We have potentially 2.5 million square feet of buildable area where we’re going to bring a ton of jobs,” Ackman added.
