The city’s big real estate players get big headlines, but sometimes being smaller is better when it comes to acquiring property in the city. That’s what the School of Visual Arts is discovering, as it expands its Manhattan footprint to create living quarters for more students.
While large universities like New York University and Columbia have entire departments devoted to keeping relationships with community leaders on an even keel, SVA has not so far needed those kinds of resources. That’s because unlike the city’s larger universities — which continue to run into widespread opposition while pursuing their expansion plans — SVA has faced fewer obstacles because of its smaller-scale expansion.
Without much fanfare, SVA, which has an enrollment of 3,300 students, has been adding buildings to its portfolio for the past two years. Recent purchases include a 54,000-square-foot site on West 16th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues, which will house its undergraduate fine arts program, and the Clearview Chelsea West Cinema site on West 23rd Street, which will become SVA’s Visual Arts Theater.
In 2006, the school purchased a 143,000-square-foot property on West 21st Street, and last year the school signed a lease on a 24-floor tower at 101 Ludlow Street, which will be used as a 360-bed student residence. The Ludlow Street building was designed and constructed for SVA to lease out. This collection of new buildings is part of the school’s under-the-radar five-year expansion plan, now in its third year.
The school’s push to acquire properties has put it in direct competition with NYU, its far-larger neighbor. The two schools recently competed for the same building in the East Village: When NYU failed to obtain the space at Third Avenue and East 10th Street, SVA jumped in and got the site.
“The community board freaked out and said no [to NYU],” said Christopher Cyphers, provost and chief academic officer at SVA.
The Downtown arts school’s proposal for a five-floor, 100-bed dormitory with ground-floor retail was viewed by community planners as a better, less intrusive fit by leaders in the neighborhood.
Also in contrast, last year NYU ran into obstacles in its quest to develop more student housing in Alphabet City. Local groups protested the university’s plan for the site, saying it was too massive and that the infusion of hundreds of young students would negatively alter the area’s neighborhood feel. Meanwhile — though its expansion plans are moving forward — Columbia University’s recent drive to expand into Harlem faced determined and organized opposition.
Those are hurdles SVA hasn’t experienced to the same degree. “We’re fortunate in that respect,” said Cyphers. “If we were in a bidding war with NYU, we’d probably lose.”
Jeffrey Levine, president of Levine Builders, which has built three dorms for SVA, said the school is one of the first institutions he speaks with when a viable property comes up. “They are quick to respond and quick to act,” he said.
Still, a small institution dealing with third-party developers and landlords lacks the control over real estate that larger schools, which often have full departments devoted to real estate acquisition and design, possess.
“They put a lot of faith in the developer,” said Levine. “Failure to complete a project in a timely manner can be very costly [for the school].”
While SVA, which has 1,200 students living in its dorms, owns a quarter of its student housing buildings, the rest it rents on a long-term basis. Those contracts include clauses that allow SVA to renew its leases when the 30 years are up.
The school, in turn, does not begin making rent payments until it moves into a finished building. “We’re not in the business of housing to make money,” said Cyphers. “The developer assumes all the [financial] risk.”
The current expansion, which is designed to allow SVA to continue to accommodate incoming freshmen who request housing — usually about 75 percent of an incoming class of 660 — will be funded by operating surpluses and student room and board payments.
The school, which has been around for 60 years, has yet to look into outer-borough real estate, but officials say they may start as vacant space in Manhattan becomes scarcer.
Cyphers said the challenge is “convincing parents and students from out of state that [areas like] Brooklyn aren’t a form of exile.”