 "Photo: Peter Lucak")
NYU has continued its citywide expansion into Roosevelt Island, paying $43 million for 58 apartments on the island as part of a new faculty housing program.
The program will be the first of its kind to allow faculty to own NYU-provided residences.
The units are located in Riverwalk Landing, the fourth building in the nine-building Riverwalk complex, still partially under construction. In addition to NYU faculty, the Riverwalk complex will also house employees from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Weill Cornell Medical Center.
"We're trying to create another community on Roosevelt Island," said Sara Goonan, finance director for faculty housing and residential services. "It's kind of like the suburbs in the city. It's so close; it's only 20 minutes on the subway to NYU, but it's so pretty and quiet."
Apartments range from studios to three-bedroom residences. So far, 12 of the 58 have been sold.
Currently, only full-time faculty living in NYU rentals are allowed to purchase the units at Riverwalk, but on March 1 the Faculty Housing Office plans to open up the apartments to the larger faculty community.
NYU Provost David McLaughlin said that NYU is trying to create a residential campus and community for faculty, as well as students.
"There's almost no urban research university which is also a residential campus, in a sense a residential campus for students but a residential campus for faculty," McLaughlin said of the new Roosevelt Island apartments. "Our faculty housing policies are designed to give our faculty an additional menu of options."
NYU received a discounted rate on the units because they bought a bulk number of apartments and purchased before the building was completed. When it sells the units to faculty, NYU will pass along the savings to help make the apartments more affordable. NYU faculty housing will not make or lose any money from selling the new residences, but will still be able to sell them to faculty for less than the market rate, McLaughlin said.
About 1,000 faculty members currently live in NYU-provided housing. A majority of them live in the Silver Towers and Washington Square Village rental complexes. Both buildings are located within a five-minute walk of Washington Square Park. There is high demand for rental housing, but only a limited number of rental units, McLaughlin said.
The Roosevelt Island housing will free up rentals and provide a new option for incoming faculty, Goonan said. In 2005, faculty housing offered a loan program that was intended to help faculty purchase their own homes in exchange for moving out of NYU rentals. However, only 10 faculty members signed up for the program, Goonan said.
Riverwalk's website describes the complex as "offering a sophisticated lifestyle in a serene environment, connected to the excitement and energy of the City." The complex boasts a children's playroom, entertainment lounge, fitness center and yoga studio on-site.
Matthew Katz, president of the Roosevelt Island Residents Association, said he feels the presence of "professional folk" on the island is an asset.
"I think if [the NYU faculty] can expand themselves into thinking of this as more than just a bedroom community, they will find a very rich society out here," he said.
However, Katz and many other island residents are unhappy about aspects of the new upscale developments that are going up on the island, including Riverwalk.
"We don't want to be a gentrified community," he said. "We don't want to be a gated community."
Katz and the Roosevelt Island Residents Association were involved in a lawsuit in 2000 in which they argued that construction on the south end of the island would consume important green space that was used by residents as park space. The suit went to the New York State Supreme Court and was ruled in favor of developers.
However, McLaughlin said he didn't believe that there would be any "major community issues" with the new NYU faculty community because the faculty would be active residents of the island. He also said that this additional option for faculty would increase the benefits NYU offers as a residential campus.
"The environment that you know at NYU is what it is because of the residential community, which includes not only the student residences but the faculty residences. It really changes just as our dorms change our environment for the better," he said.
Robyn Baitcher is deputy university editor. E-mail her at rbaitcher@nyunews.com.
CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this story, the photo caption incorrectly stated that Roosevelt Island is in the Hudson River. It is in the East River.
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