Touro College begins $15M Flatbush Center

Real Estate Weekly, Sept 22, 1993

Touro College has started construction on a new $15 million building in Brooklyn that will house a division of its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for men and women, it was announced by Dr. Bernard Lander, president of Touro College.

Dr. Lander said that the five-story structure, on Avenue J between East 16th and 17th Streets, will be known as the Flatbush Center. Upon completion, expected in the Fall of 1994, the more than 500 students at Touro's rented facility at Avenue M and East 14th Street will vacate that site and move into the new building.

The new Flatbush Center will contain 25 classrooms as well as natural science laboratories, computer science facilities, two spacious library reading rooms, a speech laboratory and faculty and administrative offices. All classrooms will be equipped with state-of-the-art computer and audio-visual technology

Courses offered at the current and future Flatbush Center lead to bachelor's degrees in such fields as accounting, education, economics, finance, business management, mathematics/computer science, psychology, and political science.

In order to meet the academic needs of its growing student population, Touro has expanded its course offerings significantly in Flatbush with the introduction of courses in biology and chemistry as well as a new speech pathology track.

At the new Center, the college will add courses in anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, microbiology and physics. Students registering for these classes will be able to prepare for careers in medicine, dentistry, occupational and physical therapy, as well as physician assistants.

The overall enrollment at the new building will be 925. Maximum occupancy during the day will be 120, and 414 during the evening.

The development team includes Gruzen Samton, architect, interior designer, site engineer and master planner; Ysrael A. Seinuk, structural engineer; Consentini Associates, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer; and Touro College, owner and developer. Blitman Building Corp. of Port Chester, New York, is the project owner's representative.

The project is expected-to provide up to 250 design professional and construction industry-related jobs through its completion.

Touro's main College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is located at 27-33 West 23rd Street and at 160 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.

While the vast majority of current students in the Flatbush Program are residents of Brooklyn, young men and women from other areas of the city and its suburbs, as well as students from a number of other states and foreign countries, enroll in the programs annually. A substantial number of young men and women in the Program study in Israel for a year.

Touro College was chartered by the new York State Board of Regents in 1970 and enrolled its first class of 35 male students in September, 1971. The Women's Division opened in September, 1974. The Touro Flatbush Division was launched in 1977.