CUNY Spends $155M for New Law School Home, Spurring Outcry
Critics are taking aim at the $155 million price tag negotiated by the City University of New York for a bigger law school home in Long Island City, Queens.
The price for space in the first six floors of the 14-story Two Court Square building amounts to about $688 a square foot, Crain’s New York Business reports. “News of the move has generated a storm of criticism from students and faculty, largely over the seemingly high price being paid,” the story says.
Law professor Dinesh Khosla contends the school is paying above market value for the property, and he wants to know how the price was determined, the story says.
Iris Weinshall, vice chancellor for facilities planning, construction and management, told students in a letter that the cost of building a brand new building would have been more than $255 million. That makes the Court Square facility, completed in 2007, “a much better deal,” he said.
The law school is currently housed in Flushing.
