Neither more nor less has a nice photo of the new building. Here is a thumbnail; visit the site for a full-res version.
NMNL opines that Cooper Union spent too much for a small school whose student body is so small, and whose mission is essentially charitable. Maybe. He also wonders where the money came from to build a $116MM building.
It appears it came from the sale of the old engineering building at 51 Astor Place. (It is likely they received some donations as well, but doubtful whether it could have provided any large portion of the funds)
That transaction was quite complicated. If i understand it correctly, Cooper sold a 99-year ground lease to Edward J. Minskoff Equities for a new 430,000 SF office building. At the time the selling broker reported that the site had "270,000-square-foot buildable as per zoning, of which 220,000 square feet can be office space" I believe there was a community facility bonus allowed, bringing the buildable area higher. Take out mechanical deductions, add a basement and/or garage and poof! 430,000 SF. The broker also expected a sale price of at least $94 million.
But the transaction is odd. Cooper Union apparently held a ground lease. One week prior to the sale in Dec 07, title was transferred from the City of NY to Cooper for just under $1MM. Cooper had assembled the new site also with the City's aid.
No subsequent deed for 51 Astor/45 4 Ave has been shown in the public record so i'm not clear if Cooper 'sold' a ground lease or if they still technically own it but leased the site to Minskoff for 99 years.
Minskoff has since taken a $67MM mortgage loan with Nataxis, a French bank.
What does all this mean? Either Cooper sold it for a very large chunk of change, or they leased it out for 99 years, getting some lump sum up front and additional cash annually.
Either way it appears to have been a major source of funds for 41 Cooper Sq.
NMNL opines that Cooper Union spent too much for a small school whose student body is so small, and whose mission is essentially charitable. Maybe. He also wonders where the money came from to build a $116MM building.It appears it came from the sale of the old engineering building at 51 Astor Place. (It is likely they received some donations as well, but doubtful whether it could have provided any large portion of the funds)
That transaction was quite complicated. If i understand it correctly, Cooper sold a 99-year ground lease to Edward J. Minskoff Equities for a new 430,000 SF office building. At the time the selling broker reported that the site had "270,000-square-foot buildable as per zoning, of which 220,000 square feet can be office space" I believe there was a community facility bonus allowed, bringing the buildable area higher. Take out mechanical deductions, add a basement and/or garage and poof! 430,000 SF. The broker also expected a sale price of at least $94 million.
But the transaction is odd. Cooper Union apparently held a ground lease. One week prior to the sale in Dec 07, title was transferred from the City of NY to Cooper for just under $1MM. Cooper had assembled the new site also with the City's aid.
No subsequent deed for 51 Astor/45 4 Ave has been shown in the public record so i'm not clear if Cooper 'sold' a ground lease or if they still technically own it but leased the site to Minskoff for 99 years.
Minskoff has since taken a $67MM mortgage loan with Nataxis, a French bank.
What does all this mean? Either Cooper sold it for a very large chunk of change, or they leased it out for 99 years, getting some lump sum up front and additional cash annually.
Either way it appears to have been a major source of funds for 41 Cooper Sq.
Leave a comment