With the fiscally strapped state and city cutting financial
support for the development of new buildings, a number of
New York City and state higher education institutions are
working with business leaders to construct much needed
facility expansion and upgrades.

Over the last decade, schools and hospitals have found their
funding for new facilities through public-private partnerships.
Recently, the City University of New York, for example, is a
leader in the public-private partnership strategy. [more]

The City University of New York is getting new digs in Downtown Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Paper reported, after signing a lease at 15 Court Street. Although the precise size of CUNY’s new office wasn’t immediately clear, sources say that it’s roughly the size of half a football field, spread over two floors. The two-year lease has sparked rumors that CUNY could be planning a major expansion in the area, which is already home to other academic institutions like St. Francis College, Packer Collegiate Institute and Brooklyn Law. The university’s so-called “special programs” department will reportedly move into the space in January. The cost of renting the space was not immediately clear. [Brooklyn Paper]

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New York City’s ailing construction industry is getting a major lift this year from a record amount of work by the City University of New York as it pursues its 10-year plan to become a world leader in science research and teacher training, the Wall Street Journal reported. But budgetary pressures are likely going to slow the pace of CUNY development. The university has some $1.2 billion worth of projects in the planning stage, some of which will be slowed by state and city fiscal constraints. For example, construction that could start later this year on a $400 million classroom and lab facility for the New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn is being delayed because it needs an additional $150 million appropriated by the state. Other projects under way include a $705 million science campus at City College, a $235 million classroom building for Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn and a $141 million building for Hunter’s School of Social Work in Harlem. The 11 projects that CUNY has under construction include about 1.8 million square feet of space and are expected to
open between 2010 and 2013. [WSJ]

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From left: Michael Bloomberg and William Thompson

A camera lens analogy might help voters understand where Michael Bloomberg and William Thompson, who are New York’s main mayoral candidates, stand on key real estate issues ahead of tomorrow’s election. Bloomberg, the Republican incumbent, seems to favor a wide-angle approach, as his sweeping rezoning of a fifth of the city, or 8,400 blocks over eight years in office, would indicate. Focused on creating denser, more transit-oriented development, according to his PlaNYC, which was unveiled in 2007, the city has famously paved the way for homes to be built into once-industrial swaths of land, notably along the Williamsburg waterfront in Brooklyn. [more]

Students at CUNY-Queens College can now live on campus: the school has opened its first dormitory, called the Summit. Traditionally a commuter school, the City University of New York flagship is using the $72 million project in an attempt to rebrand itself by attracting students in search of a more quintessential college campus. Students who choose to live in the dorm can pay either $6,250 per semester for a private room within a four-bedroom, two-bathroom suite, or $4,250
per semester for a double room in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom, and all will have access to a laundry room and gym, as well as recreation and study areas. Funds for the project came from tax-exempt bonds issued by New York Housing Development Corp. [more]