NYU’s videogame institute takes DoBro digs

New York University’s new videogame development institute has inked a deal for space in Downtown Brooklyn, a big boost for the area’s efforts to attract trendy technology clients, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Beginning in the fall, the Media and Games Network – Magnet – will operate out of a 40,000-square-foot space in a 2 Metrotech Center office building. The institute will offer courses that lead to a variety of degrees, including a master’s in game design and a doctorate in educational communications and technology.

Katherine Isbister, research director of NYU-Poly’s Center of Innovation for Technology and Entertainment Game Innovation Lab, cited Downtown Brooklyn’s relative affordability and character as big reasons for the decision. “Downtown Brooklyn is one of those places where space is cheaper,’ Isbister said. “There’s an intersection of worlds and a quirkiness that was there 20 years ago in Manhattan, but is getting harder and harder to find.”

Local officials were thrilled with the decision, and expressed hope that it would lure younger workers to the area. “It means more entrepreneurs and folks with a penchant and proclivity for digital arts and media sciences,” Tucker Reed, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, told the Journal.

The city has been courting technology clients in Brooklyn as well as in Manhattan neighborhoods such as Midtown South and Lower Manhattan, as traditionally dominant industries such as financial and legal services scale back on their workforce and space demands. In November, The Real Deal looked at where some of the tech industry’s movers and shakers choose to set up shop. [WSJ]  –Hiten Samtani