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.
Skorton said that companies will grow along the F Subway line to be close to, and take advantage of, nearby talent. In addition, he remarked, Cornell-Technion will be an “open environment,” where academia won’t be separated from the industry. Campus buildings will be next door to companies, which he said furthers the appeal.
“The real estate impact will go well beyond the 2 million square feet,” Skorton said.
This school-industry mix is already happening. Last month, Google donated a total of 22,000 square feet of free space to the Cornell-Technion applied science graduate school for five and a half years, which can expand to nearly 60,000 square feet as it grows.
Construction on Cornell-Technion’s campus is set to begin in 2014. [Crain’s]