Coalition Voices Support for Roosevelt Island Tech Campus

NEW YORK—The fever for a new tech university has taken hold. New York City is aiming to snag a top-tier academic institution to create a new campus at one of three proposed sites, with the goal of churning out the next generation’s innovators.

Councilwoman Jessica Lappin, Assemblyman Micah Kellner, and state Sen. José Serrano spoke Wednesday at the foot of the Roosevelt Island tram plaza on Second Avenue to show their support for the city’s plans to bring in a new engineering school and to urge universities to pick Roosevelt Island as their development site.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a request for proposals (RFP) last week, seeking responses from top engineering universities, as part of his vision to turn New York City into the new Silicon Valley. Roosevelt Island’s Goldwater Hospital is one of the sites the city has offered.

“The mayor has pledged some of the city’s real estate for free. He’s also offered up to $100 million in infrastructure upgrades to the winning bidder,” said Lappin.

Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt Island is scheduled to close in 2014. The selected bidder would get the real estate after the building’s demolition. Lappin pointed out that Roosevelt Island has the best transportation access of all the other options offered in the RFP.

“We did not want a hotel, and that was proposed. We didn’t want a big-box store. We don’t want luxury condos, but a world-class engineering school—we want you,” she asserted.

Lappin added that Roosevelt Island has several parks. Southpoint Park is due to open next week on the southern tip of the island, adding another stretch of parkland to the already developed waterfront. The Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, designed by Louis I. Kahn, is under construction and will add to the existing Lighthouse and Octagon parks.

“We need to diversify our economy, and if Silicon Valley has shown us anything, [it] is where people are educated, that’s where they innovate, that’s where they create jobs. So, whether it’s on the East Side [or] in Southtown [Roosevelt Island], that’s where we want the next Google to be,” said Kellner.

Cornell University, New York University, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center currently own property on the island. Cornell has already submitted a proposal for the new campus.

“This is a win-win situation. We are anxious, and we put together a committee to work with the Economic Development Corporation and the organizations to realize this opportunity and make it a perfect fit,” said Matthew Katz, president of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association.

The city received 18 “expressions of interest” from schools around the world prior to issuing the RFP. Stanford University, University of Chicago, Purdue University, and Columbia University were among those responding. Proposals can be submitted until Oct. 28, and selection of the winner is expected by the end of the year.

The New York City Development Corporation estimates that the project will create 22,000 permanent jobs over the next 35 years and generate $6 billion in economic activity.