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NYC's Chrysler Building could get ‘fresh start’ after Cooper Union wins legal fight
By
Samantha Max
Published Feb 6, 2025
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By
Samantha Max
Published Feb 6, 2025
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One of New York City’s most renowned universities is about to get a crash course in how to be a landlord of one of Midtown’s most iconic buildings.
Cooper Union, which owns the Chrysler Building and the land beneath it, won a court battle last week against the real estate company R&S Chrysler LLC, which used to lease the property.
The private college accused R&S Chrysler of failing to pay more than $21 million in rent and urged a judge to kick them out of the building. R&S Chrysler claimed it — like many others in the real estate industry — was struggling financially from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The real estate firm said in court papers that it tried unsuccessfully to renegotiate the terms of its lease and that Cooper Union rebuffed its offers to upgrade the nearly century-old building.
Manhattan Justice Jennifer Schecter sided with Cooper Union last week. That means the school owns the property and is responsible for leasing out the building’s 77 floors and collecting rent from all of its tenants. Schecter was still finalizing the terms of her order as of Wednesday.
Ruth Colp-Haber is a real estate executive who often tours the skyscraper with clients considering new office space. She said it can be difficult for the Chrysler Building to compete with others in the area.
“It’s a New York City icon,” said Colp-Haber, president and CEO of Wharton Property Advisors. “However, it has one major problem, which is it’s very old.”
Colp-Haber said the Chrysler Building has a “triple-A location” and beautiful architecture, but it also needs lots of “constant upgrades.” She said there were building codes and local laws to comply with, as well as old pipes and ventilation that may need to be replaced, occasionally leaky windows and awkward layouts in some areas of the building.
“It’s a massive job,” she said.
To successfully manage the building, Colp-Haber said, Cooper Union will have to contend with rising construction costs and the lingering effects of the pandemic, which drastically altered the amount of time many workers spend at the office. She said she thinks parts of the building could be converted into residential space.
“They’re going to have to have a fresh start and something of a rebranding of the building,” Colp-Haber said. “They’re going to bring in new management, they’re going to bring in new consultants, they’re going to probably have a few parties, and they’re going to have to make the existing tenants and potential new tenants very comfortable that they’re going to manage the building on a high level.”
This new phase of Cooper Union’s ownership of the Chrysler Building could prove pivotal for the school, which has spent years trying to bolster its finances. The nonprofit college was established in 1859 as a free school. About a decade ago, the college began charging tuition to address budget deficits, sparking protests. In 2018, Cooper Union announced a plan to restore its tuition-free status within a decade, and last fall the school said it would stop requiring seniors to pay for at least the next four years.
An independent monitor that oversees the college’s finances said in a report last year that the Chrysler Building could be one of the most “significant” ways for Cooper Union to transition from “large structural deficits to sustainable operating surpluses.” But the report noted that the building also posed a potential challenge and that “recent disruptions” to the city’s real estate market had contributed to a decline in revenue in recent years, as well as higher vacancy rates.
R&S Chrysler’s lawyer, Terrence Oved, wasn’t immediately available for comment Wednesday.
John Ruth, Cooper Union’s vice president of finance and administration, said in a statement that the real estate company failed to meet its obligations and engaged in “desperate attempts to shift the focus.”
He said the school will be working with the real estate firms Cushman & Wakefield and Savills to manage the property and figure out a long-term plan for the building.
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Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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