News & Events
CUNY Board Amends Master Plan
Giving Green Light To City Tech Construction
Brooklyn, NY-- A $150 million major capital construction plan for New York City Technical College was approved today by the board of trustees of thes City University of New York.
The board voted to amend its master plan in light of a projected City Tech student enrollment increase of 27 percent between now and 2008, with a corresponding growth in faculty and staff.
"We are very excited to have the opportunity to provide our campus community with the state-of-the-art facilities needed to stay competitive in the 21st century," said City Tech President Fred Beaufait. "Right now, we are leasing a significant amount of space at various sites in Downtown Brooklyn to meet our needs and we will have to lease even more next year."
City Tech enrollment, which is now at 11,000 students, is expected to rise to 14,000 students by 2008. Largely fueling the increase is the popularity of its academic programs most in demand in the information age economy: computer systems, telecommunications, new media, and advertising design and graphic arts.
When completed in 2007, the project will increase instructional and support space by 42 percent and provide facilities for use by community groups.
The construction plans will literally change the face of City Tech, creating a new campus center along Jay Street and a major new public space. "This will give enhanced visibility to the college and will visually make us the gateway to Metrotech Center, creating a large pedestrian campus environment," Beaufait notes. "We are proud to be a part of the renaissance of Downtown Brooklyn."
Two new buildings are planned--an 11-story structure at Jay and Tillary Streets (site of the existing Klitgord Center) and an eight-story structure at Adams and Johnson Streets (site of the existing Pearl and General Buildings), Also on the drawing board is the renovation of an existing open quadrangle at Namm Hall, which will be enclosed.
The new 311,000 square-foot building planned for the Klitgord Center site will feature science facilities, a 1,200-seat theatre auditorium, dental hygiene and legal clinics serving the public, a gymnasium and a college bookstore.
A bridge across Jay Street will connect this new building with existing Namm Hall at the second, third and fourth levels. This structure will be used as a civic scale landmark that will clearly identify the campus center and mark the main entrance to the campus, offering sweeping views up and down Jay Street.
The second new building, which will face Adams Street (Brooklyn Bridge Boulevard), is expected to contain 271,000 square feet and will house academic facilities, a conference center, an academic commons and an expansion of the library.
The last time a new building was constructed on the campus was in 1987, with the addition of the Atrium Building.
The master plan was designed by Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects of New York City.
