Island House

A 400-unit residential complex on Roosevelt Island, called Island House, is going co-op. A new program worked out with the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal will allow existing tenants of the building to buy their apartments at reduced prices, if they wish, David Hirschhorn, a general partner of the group that owns Island House, told Crain’s. He declined to provide prices for the apartments.

There were limited options available for the building, which was built under the state’s Mitchell-Lama program, but whose guarantees of reduced rent had expired. The program provides tax breaks for developers who in exchange have a ceiling on rents they can charge for a specified period. [more]

From left: Tad Sudol and the Roosevelt Island power plant (credit: Roosevelt Islander)

Architect Tad Sudol has a vision for the still-functional, four-story power plant on Roosevelt Island: a museum of technology, art and science, DNAinfo reported. Despite Sudol’s re-imaging of the space, the power plant still provides power to two hospitals on the island, one of which will be replaced by Cornell-Technion, and officials have not announced any plans to shutter the facility. [more]

Rendering of planned campus on Roosevelt Island

CornellNYC Tech — a collaboration between Cornell University and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology —  sent out a request for expressions of interest to an unspecified number of developers for three different projects on its Roosevelt Island campus, Crain’s reported. The developments include a conference center/hotel, a residence for faculty, staff and students and a technology industry-related commercial property. [more]

A rendering of Cornell-Technion

The Cornell-Technion tech campus slated to open on Roosevelt Island in 2017 will help create an “F-train tech corridor,” predicted Cornell University President David Skorton during his keynote address at Crain’s real estate conference. Skorton added that not only will the school help boost the city’s tech industry, but that it will also boost the local real estate market. [more]

Goldwater Hospital

As Roosevelt Island’s Goldwater Hospital prepares to close its doors at the end of next year, partly to make room for Cornell’s forthcoming tech campus, city health officials are tasked with shuffling its 800 patients to other hospitals, rehabilitation centers and housing facilities throughout the five boroughs. But according to DNAinfo the fate of roughly half of those patients is still uncertain. [more]

Roosevelt Island

With the new Hudson Companies and Related Companies joint management of Roosevelt Island’s retail strip comes new retail tenants slated to arrive this year, the New York Times reported. A food market called Wholesome Direct will open there in the next three to four months, and a liquor store will set up shop in the next six to eight months. Eight leases, which include deals for restaurants, a bakery and a florist, are expected to be inked in the next six months, according to the Times. [more]

David Kramer

New development by Hudson Companies on Roosevelt Island is underway that aims to make the island a residential destination, Hudson principal David Kramer told the New York Times.

Hudson is behind the development of the Riverwalk neighborhood in Roosevelt Island. As The Real Deal reported in the March issue, the complex will comprise nine buildings. Kramer told the Times that six of them are currently complete. One of them is Riverwalk Crossing, a rental building designed in cooperation with Related Companies, which is now fully leased. [more]

Rendering of planned campus on Roosevelt Island

Cornell University has poached a top city development official, Andrew Winters, to spearhead the technology campus it is planning for Roosevelt Island, the university announced in a statement today. Winters, the founding director of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Office of Capital Project Development, will oversee planning and construction at the massive project. Winters will take the role in May, the statement said. [more]

From left: City Council member Jessica Lappin, Assembly member Micah Kellner and Roosevelt IslandThough the submission process is over for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s $100 million towards a new graduate science school, the lobbying process has just begun. Roosevelt Islander blog reported that City Council member Jessica Lappin and Assembly member Micah Kellner joined Roosevelt Island advocates at a press conference yesterday on the steps of City Hall pleading for Bloomberg to select a proposal that would build the campus on Roosevelt Island.

“I want Roosevelt Island to become Silicon Island,” Lappin said. She directed supporters to voice their support for Roosevelt Island on specified Economic Development Corporation social media outlets…. [more]

Clockwise from top left: 370 Jay Street, a rendering of NYU’s transformation of the building and a rendering of the interior lobby (source: NYU)

While the Bloomberg administration’s eye is on Roosevelt Island for a new applied science graduate school, New York University would prefer to open one in Downtown Brooklyn. Specifically, the New York Daily News reported the school wants to take over the former Metropolitan Transportation Authority headquarters at 370 Jay Street and transform it into its Center for Urban Science and Progress.

“It would make Brooklyn the urban center of the universe,” said Paul Horn, NYU’s senior vice provost for research. “There are a lot of advantages to being there as opposed to isolated somewhere.”… [more]