Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Cornell Set To Build New York's New High-Tech Campus
By
Garth Johnston
Published Dec 19, 2011
Modified Dec 19, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Garth Johnston
Published Dec 19, 2011
Modified Dec 19, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
And the winner of New York City's high-tech campus sweepstakes appears to be... Cornell, by $350 million dollars. Mayor Bloomberg is expected to announce the news later today at the New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and the Ithaca-based Ivy is apparently so eager to get started they want to have their first classes going by next September—a year earlier than the Bloomberg administration initially asked for!
The rush to anoint Cornell ahead of the original January announcement deadline comes days after Stanford abruptly dropped out of the race just as Cornell announced a record-breaking $350 million donation to help it build a $2 billion city campus. Cornell is proposing to build 2.1 million square foot of building space around Roosevelt Island that will accomodate more than 2,000 students. The project, "to be built over a generation, would include a range of unusual environmental features, like heavy use of solar energy and geothermal wells."
Part of the reported appeal of Cornell's bid, beyond its existing presence in the city just across from the proposed Roosevelt Island site, is that it is willing to spend more money on the new school—including on toxic on-site clean up—in the hopes that it will eventually make a bundle off of tech patents its students and faculty create (as schools like Stanford and MIT already do).
In order to get the ball rolling though, the school is said to be planning to start classes next fall on a site away from the Roosevelt Island. Cornell appears to be under a lot of pressure to get this thing going from the beleaguered Bloomberg administration. As a source gently puts it to the Times: "There’s a lot of work to do, and a real desire to get things rolling in the time the mayor has left in office."
Tagged
Cornell
education
high tech campus
mayor bloomberg
nyc
roosevelt island
Garth Johnston
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
ICE agent shoots, injures immigrant man in NYC's Marble Hill, DHS says
The agency says the man is alive and hospitalized.
By
Giulia Heyward
and
Arya Sundaram
Published Oct 8, 2026 at 5:33 p.m. ET
Modified Oct 8, 2026 at 11:20 p.m. ET
Lazy drivers in Prospect Heights lose chance for 1 less day of alternate-side parking
A pilot found that drivers actually complied with alternate-side less when fewer days were in effect.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Lazy drivers in Prospect Heights lose chance for 1 less day of alternate-side parking
A pilot found that drivers actually complied with alternate-side less when fewer days were in effect.
By
Liam Quigley
Jersey City mayor shakes up staff amid $255M budget gap
By
Michael Sol Warren
Bronx residents will be exempt from new Medicaid work rule, state officials say
By
Caroline Lewis
MTA chair accuses Andy Byford, who's leading Penn Station rebuild, of going 'full MAGA'
By
Stephen Nessen
and
Carol Chen
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .