NYU Gets All Clear For BK Expansion

Mayor Bloomberg, joined by a myriad of other officials including House Speaker Quinn and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, announced the go-ahead for New York University's new satellite campus located in downtown Brooklyn. The new building, located in the old MTA headquarters of 370 Jay St., will be the Center for Urban Science and Progress ­­? an applied science research center created by NYU and NYU-Polytech. CUSP was handed over to NYU in a $60 million deal that will see them paying to relocate any remaining offices and equipment of the MTA and the NYPD. NYU will take over the MTA's rent of $1 annually. In 99 years, the school will have the opportunity to buy the building. According to the office of Mayor Bloomberg, the city has allocated $15 million in benefits to NYU, with most of it being allocated towards green initiatives such as a new roof and facade. Nearly $4 million of the fund money will be immediately available to begin the first phase of construction. The new campus is set to be completed by 2017. NYU President John Sexton has already tapped Brooklyn native Steven E. Koonin, a theoretical physicist who has served as Undersecretary of Energy for Science, Chief Scientist of BP, and Provost of the California Institute of Technology as the facility's director. The Center will be the new home of roughly 530 students as in an applied science research setting. There, NYU hopes to train the next generation of engineers and scientists in an increasingly urban world. "Downtown Brooklyn is an ideal location for an additional applied science center in New York City. As you are aware, in Dumbo, young companies such as Etsy, Carrot Creative, and countless startups have flocked to the neighborhood to create what has become a Digital District? Utilizing the neglected building would be an enormous win for the thriving Downtown Brooklyn business district and at the same time alleviate the cost of building an entire new campus from scratch," said Senator Kristen Gillibrand in an open letter to Mayor Bloomberg.