The City Planning Commission today greenlighted plans to develop the Cornell NYC Tech campus, setting the stage for City Council to vote on the Roosevelt Island megaproject, according to a release from Cornell NYC Tech.
Manhattan Community Board 8 approved the plan for the 12-acre campus in late December. The City Council vote is the last step in the seven-month public review process.
Groundbreaking is planned for early 2014, with the campus opening scheduled for 2017 and the full build-out 20 years after that. The first phase of development encompasses 790,000 square feet, including the campus’ first academic building.
When completed, the 2.1 million square feet of facilities will house nearly 2,000 full-time graduate students. However, a “beta” group of graduate computer science students are already taking classes at a Google-donated space in Chelsea.
“We are grateful for the support of the city and the entire tech community as we move forward with the goal of spurring innovation and supporting economic growth in New York and beyond,” said Cornell NYC Tech Dean Dan Huttenlocher in the release. —Zachary Kussin