NYU Announces Major Expansion in Downtown Brooklyn

School will open a 190,000-sq.-ft. business incubator-cum-classroom space at 370 Jay St. in 2017.

The transformation of Downtown Brooklyn from a traditional manufacturing-based urban backwater to a bustling collection of residential towers, college satellite campuses and national retailers, continues apace. On Monday, elected officials and economic development leaders joined NYU administrators to announce the educational institution's major expansion into a mostly-vacant office tower owned by the Metropolitan Transit Authority at 370 Jay St. "New York itself has always been part of the educational experience at NYU," said NYU president John Sexton of the planned Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP), which will be housed at the building. "With CUSP, New York will also be a living laboratory, a source of research, a test-bed …

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Week In Review

A roundup of news, events and announcements.

Monday A community group calls for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to step in and end "cycle of litigation" at Atlantic Yards. Tuesday The Metropolitan Transit Authority announces it may still sell 370 Jay St. to New York University—for a higher price. Wednesday Bryce and Aaron Dessner of indie rock group The National will curate a new music festival, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, at Brooklyn Academy of Music in May. Thursday A vote the night before by the Panel for Education Policy confirmed Community Roots Charter School's co-location of middle school grades at P.S. 287 on Navy Street. Friday Word came down about the arrest of a Pratt architecture professor allegedly caught with child pornography at his home in New Jersey. Saturday Mayor Mike Bloomberg …

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MTA May Sell 370 Jay St. to NYU, For Higher Pricetag

MTA's new chairman is on board with the deal to move NYU's new campus into the old office building downtown, but sources say the agency wants more money.

At his confirmation last week, new MTA chairman Joseph Lhota said he was on board with the plan for New York University to open their Center for Urban Science and Progress at 370 Jay St., a mostly-vacant building owned by the MTA, reports the Daily News. The only problem is that the cash-strapped agency needs more money for the building than NYU officials were originally planning to spend. NYU officials planned to build the new center with $20 million in city money, but the MTA wants $30-60 million for the building, sources told the Daily News. The report says that there are communications and systems equipments currently housed in the building that would need to be moved or replaced. When the MTA decided to put the Jay St. building on the…

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NYU 'Close' to Making Deal For 370 Jay St.: Report

Underutilized 'blight' on Downtown Brooklyn put on the market last year.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority, the owner of a long-dormant slice of prime Downtown Brooklyn real estate, might be close to making a deal with New York University to sell 370 Jay St., according to a report in Crain's New York Business. Crain's reports that talks on creating a multi-million dollar Center for Urban Science and Progress between the two parties would likely accelerate during the new year—most likely driven by the MTA's increasingly dire financial situation, which the transit agency hopes to alleviate by the sale of underused properties across the city. The MTA's move to put 370 Jay St. on the market last September was quickly hailed by Borough President Marty Markowitz and state Sen. Daniel Squadron, D-Brooklyn, who called…

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5 Things You Need To Know Today

Dec. 20: Starting in January, D.I.Y. Is Spelled 'MoCADA'

New exhibit features homemade goods made by local artists of color.

1. The Museum of Contemporary African and Diasporan Arts will hold a "D-I-Y (Do It Yourself) Festival" on Jan. 21, featuring handmade goods by artisans of color. The show will be a "curated marketplace" that expresses the diversity of the Black experience in America and beyond. To apply to be part of the festival, email pixelating@mocada.org the following: Name of business, contact name, phone number, website link and a brief about who you are, what you do and what D.I.Y. means to you. 2. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the competition between NYU, Carnegie Mellon and Columbia for a new school of applied science was "not over." Last week, Borough President Marty Markowitz urged Bloomberg to support NYU's bid to set up the school at …

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Community Board 2 Holds October General Meeting

Issues related to Classon Avenue traffic calming, sale of Brooklyn Muncipal Building and CB2 budget are discussed.

It was mostly business as usual at Community Board 2. Last night's general meeting at NYU Polytechnic's Pfizer Auditorium at 3 MetroTech in Downtown Brooklyn offered few, if any, fireworks. It did however allow board members to give its final assent to what has been the first of a slew of city and state-owned properties to be put on the selling block of late. The board voted overwhelming to approve the city's $10 million sale of a portion of the Municipal Building at 210 Joralemon St. to a development company, United American Land, controlled by Downtown Brooklyn real estate magnate Al Laboz. A few details on the transaction came to light during the vote, including specifics regarding the part of the building to be sold under the agreement…

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Downtown Brooklyn Partnership Exec Headed To State Development Corp.

Joe Chan will assume post at agency overseeing Atlantic Yards.

Big changes are afoot in Downtown Brooklyn—and we're not just talking real estate. Joe Chan, head of Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, will step down from his post after years of overseeing the neighborhood's transformation from a underutilized outpost to a thriving retail and residential center. Chan, a resident of Fort Greene, leaves DBP to become vice president of development at Empire State Development, the agency overseeing some of New York's biggest construction projects, including Atlantic Yards. A source with knowledge of the transition confirmed that Chan was on his way out and would be replaced on an interim basis by DBP chief operating officer Michael Burke. Chan's departure came as some of the partnership's chief goals seemed on …

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Beep Hails MTA's Intent To Sell Downtown Brooklyn Property

Potential transfer of 370 Jay St. part of broader effort to unload public sector real estate holdings throughout the city.

The amount of publicly held property in Downtown Brooklyn may get even smaller. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Monday that it intended to sell a multi-story office building at 370 Jay St. along with several other holdings in the five boroughs as a way to close a looming budget gap. Totaling 400,000 square-feet of office space, the building is the largest of nine properties on MTA's list to be sold. “We are fully committed to deriving the maximum value we can from our real estate holdings, and I’m pleased that our thorough review of the properties we own or otherwise control in the city has turned up a number of opportunities,” said MTA director of real estate Jeffrey Rosen. At the same time, Rosen acknowledged that the…

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