Dear Commons Community,

The New York Times is reporting that New York University will lead a consortium of universities in building a new school for applied science in downtown Brooklyn.  Its partners include the City University of New York, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Warwick, the University of Toronto and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.  The school will be located at the old headquarters of the city’s transit authority at 370 Jay Street. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority had largely abandoned the 61-year-old building, transferring many of its occupants to other offices in Manhattan.

“To move the transit authority’s equipment and remaining employees out, N.Y.U. promised to pay $50 million of the relocation costs. It also agreed to pay as much as $10 million to move the New York Police Department out of some space it occupies in the building.

In exchange, the city agreed to rent the building for $1 a year to N.Y.U., a private university with an endowment of $2.5 billion. The city also offered a $15 million package of breaks on taxes and energy costs and possibly some cash.”

This is the second major announcement of a new school of applied science being built in New York City.  Last year, Cornell University, in partnership with the Technion School in Israel, won a competition with a plan to build a $2 billion campus on Roosevelt Island..

Hurrah for New York City!

Tony