History Cornell Tech

1 history

1.1 planning
1.2 financial contributions
1.3 construction

history
planning

part of cornell tech site, viewed 1 of buildings

in 2008, administration of then-new york city mayor michael bloomberg recruited steven strauss, american economist , former mckinsey & company management consultant, oversee series of research projects looking @ future of new york city s economy in context of global economic trends. analysis concluded new york had significant opportunities in high tech sector , recommended series of initiatives better capitalize on these developments, these recommendations included, not limited to: creation of string of incubators, stage investment fund, nyc big apps. success of these recommendations hinge upon quality , quantity of technology talent in new york city.

in response recommendation, mayor bloomberg launched competition build applied sciences campus in new york city focus on entrepreneurship , job creation. in december 2010, city requested expressions of interest leading universities. eighteen universities responded. next, in july 2011, new york city published request proposals construction of applied sciences campus. winner receive $100 million , free land; roosevelt island, governor’s island, downtown brooklyn, , brooklyn navy yard discussed locations.

seven formal proposals submitted. amity university bid governors island; joint carnegie mellon university , steiner studios bid brooklyn navy yard; columbia university bid manhattanville; joint cornell university , technion–israel institute of technology bid roosevelt island; six-way bid of new york university, university of toronto, university of warwick, indian institute of technology bombay, city university of new york, , carnegie mellon in downtown brooklyn; four-way bid new york genome center, mount sinai school of medicine, rockefeller university, , state university of new york @ stony brook in midtown manhattan; , joint bid stanford university , city college of new york @ roosevelt island. stanford university , massachusetts institute of technology favored win competition, , when mit dropped out, stanford, had partnered city college of new york, became favorite. cornell , technion s joint proposal, combining technion s reputation mit of israel , cornell s presence in new york state , land grant economic development mission, developed in secret, in meeting in beijing , 3 day meeting @ cornell club in new york city, , made public in october. new york city economic development corporation awarded project cornell/technion bid in december 2011, after stanford pulled out of negotiations.

the cornell/technion bid had been chosen because of detail , scope of benefits, , because 2 bidders had viable partnership. according crain s new york, cornell/technion bid promised create 28,000 jobs, of 20,000 in construction , 8,000 of academics @ campus. bid able incubate 600 companies, create $23 billion of economic benefits, , garner $1.4 billion in taxes first 30 years of operation. plan provided 200 professors , 2,000 students inhabiting 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m) of campus space. project estimated cost $2 billion build. cornell declined build on potential sites in brooklyn navy yard , governors island due lack of transit access either location.

when plans cornell tech campus on roosevelt island first publicly announced, there opposition roosevelt island residents disliked construction traffic potentially disrupt quality of life there, pro-palestinian activists. additionally, there concerns campus s construction might lead decrease in amount of affordable housing units, since many of island s affordable housing units, built under mitchell-lama housing program in 1970s, becoming market rate housing without of maximum-rent restrictions provided in mitchell-lama program.

cornell tech began operations in 2012 @ temporary site, new york city offices of google @ 111 eighth avenue in chelsea. google s co-founders, sergey brin , larry page, agreed donate of building s space cornell tech despite alma mater stanford university losing roosevelt island campus bid.

financial contributions

there several major gifts cornell tech. largest $350 million gift atlantic philanthropies, founded charles feeney (cornell class of 1956), owner of duty free shops. there $133 million gift qualcomm founder irwin m. jacobs (cornell class of 1954, bee class of 1956) , wife joan (cornell class of 1954). in addition, verizon communications provided $50 million executive education center, , bloomberg philanthropies provided $100 million gift. part of bloomberg philanthropies gift, main academic building renamed after daughters of former mayor bloomberg, head of foundation. finally, robert frederick smith, of cornell class of 1985, provided funds provide scholarships students ethnic- , racial-minorities, part of undergrad engineering program, , studying in engineering field.

under terms of bid cornell, technion not use funding pay campus, have involved using funds israeli government.

construction

demolition of goldwater hospital

construction of campus required demolition of coler-goldwater specialty hospital s south campus , remediation of polluted land. city officials said did not have plans close north campus of hospital. demolition began in march 2014, debris being removed barge.

during demolition of hospital, cornell rescued several large murals @ hospital commissioned federal art project, subdivision of president roosevelt’s works progress administration (wpa). herbert f. johnson museum of art @ cornell university hosted exhibit featuring these murals january may 2016. these murals ilya bolotowsky, albert swinden, , joseph rugolo, set installed in campus in long term, , installed in bloomberg center.

construction of house, residential building, began in 2015, hudson companies , related companies contractors. forest city ratner hired build bridge.

in june 2017, school said 3 buildings on roosevelt island—the bridge, house, , bloomberg center—would ready start of fall 2017 semester. first buildings opened on september 13, 2017, hosting 30 professors , 300 students.