Cornell NYC Tech Project - OEC

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Cornell NYC Tech Project – 12DME004M

On March 8, 2013, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development (ODMED), as lead agency for the CEQR environmental review of the Cornell NYC Tech Project, issued the Notice of Completion for the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). The Notice of Completion for the Draft EIS was issued on October 10, 2012, which marked the beginning of the public comment period on this document. A public hearing on the DEIS was held in conjunction with the public hearing on the associated Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) applications on February 6, 2013 at Spector Hall, 22 Reade Street, New York, NY 10007. The public comment period remained open until February 19, 2013

On April 18, 2012, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development (ODMED), as lead agency for the CEQR environmental review for the Cornell NYC Tech Project, issued a Positive Declaration for the project indicating that there was the potential for adverse environmental impacts and directed that a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) be prepared. At the same time, a Draft Scope of Work for an EIS was issued for public comment. To receive public comments, a public Scoping Meeting was held on Tuesday, May 22, 2012, at the Manhattan Community Center, 8 River Road, Roosevelt Island, NY. Written comments on the Draft Scope of Work were accepted until 5:00 PM on Friday, June 8, 2012.

On October 5, 2012, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development (ODMED) issued the final scope of work that guided the preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The Notice of Completion for the DEIS was issued on October 10, 2012, which marked the beginning of the public comment period on this document. A public hearing on the DEIS was held in conjunction with the public hearing on the associated Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) applications on February 6, 2013 at Spector Hall, 22 Reade Street, New York, NY 10007. The public comment period remained open until February 19, 2013.

The proposed project entails the development of a new applied sciences and engineering campus – Cornell NYC Tech – by Cornell University in collaboration with Technion-Israel Institute of Technology on the site of the existing Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt Island in the Borough of Manhattan. Beginning in 2014, over a period of approximately 24 years, Cornell University proposes development that would entail construction of three new Cornell academic research buildings, three new corporate co-location buildings that would include space for private companies that wish to take advantage of proximity to Cornell’s academic community and personnel, two new residential buildings to house a portion of the Cornell academic population affiliated with the new campus, a mixed-use building that comprises corporate co-location space at the base with a residential tower for Cornell personnel above, an Executive Education Center with hotel and conference facilities, one or two central utility buildings, a modest amount of campus-oriented retail space, and publicly-accessible open space. In addition, it is anticipated that parking may be provided at the project site, with 250 spaces in each of Phase 1 and 2. The total amount of development would be approximately 2.13 million square feet by the anticipated completion year of 2038.

The first phase of development would be complete by 2018 and would encompass the demolition of the existing, vacated Goldwater Hospital, construction of approximately 200,000 square feet of academic space, approximately 100,000 square feet of corporate co-location space, approximately 300,000 square feet of residential space (approximately 442 dwelling units), approximately 170,000 square feet for the Executive Education Center, approximately 20,000 square feet for the utility building, and approximately 250 parking spaces. The remainder of the development would be built out over a period of approximately 20 years.

The project site is located on Block 1373, Lot 20 and a portion of Lot 1, on Roosevelt Island in the Borough of Manhattan bounded by a one-way ring road – to the north of the project site, the road is unnamed; to the east it is named East Road with southbound traffic flow; to the west it is named West Road with northbound traffic flow. The ring road meets Main Street north of the project site.
The project requires discretionary approvals from a number of agencies: (1) amendment of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (NYCHHC) operating agreement with the City by the Corporation Board in order to surrender a portion of the project site; (2) disposition of City-owned property to the New York City Land Development Corporation (NYCLDC) for a subsequent proposed long-term lease and potential future sale to Cornell; (3) Mayoral approval of the lease and sale terms of the disposition parcels pursuant to Section 384(b)(4) of the New York City Charter; (4) modification of the City’s lease with the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC); (5) zoning map amendment to change zoning on the project site from R7-2 to C4-5; (6) zoning text amendment to create the Special Southern Roosevelt Island District and to establish special bulk, use, parking, and waterfront controls for the rezoning area; and (7) City map amendment to map the one-way ring road surrounding the project site as a City street.

Environmental Review Materials

The environmental review documents can be downloaded from CEQR Access.