University has designs on the big apple

Real Estate Weekly, August 3, 2005

Cornell University's Department of Architecture, ranked best in a 2005 nationwide survey for its Bachelor of Architecture program, has set its designs on New York City.

The Ithaca, New York-based department has leased 6,600 s/f of second floor studio space at 50 West 17th Street, according to Michelle Stone, managing director of Sinvin Realty Corp..

"The space will serve as studio space for its architectural students studying a semester in Manhattan," says Stone who represented Cornell in the deal. "They wanted the students to benefit from the intellectual environment of Greenwich Village, and the proximity to Parsons, The New School, New York University and Cooper Union."

Stone reports that Cornell signed a five-year lease, with two five-year options to renew. The financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed, but the landlord had been asking $27 per square-foot. Robert Frost, president of Signature Partners represented the landlord, 50 West Realty Co. L.P., in the deal.

The interior of the loft-like space features 13foot ceilings, wood floors, brand-new bathrooms and HVAC.