The City University of New York (“CUNY”) is the largest public urban university system in the United States with over 275,000 students. Founded in 1961, it includes 25 campuses, 11 senior colleges, seven community colleges, and seven professional institutions. As such, CUNY’s real estate portfolio is extensive, and totals over 300 properties throughout New York City’s five Boroughs.
CUNY engaged RESGroup to help them identify assets within their real estate portfolio for near-term monetization opportunities, and to identify potential properties for a mid to long term disposition strategy. The RESGroup team included appraisers, cost estimators, environmental engineers, and architects, and considered the near-term value to CUNY of monetizing individual properties and the potential for the sale air-rights transfers (as-of-right and via NYC’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure “ULURP”).
To understand which properties in CUNY’s portfolio had the greatest near term and longer term potential for monetization, the team reviewed the properties using a multidisciplinary approach that considered highest-and-best use, potential massing and building envelope, market value, environmental remediation issues (if any), costs to relocate existing uses, and demolition (if needed). Potential redevelopment uses considered included residential, office, laboratory/life science, industrial, and hotel.
RESGroup worked closely with CUNY staff, prepared reports and summaries of completed work for the working group and for CUNY executives. Presentations summarizing the analysis and findings were made to the CUNY Board, identifying not only those assets with near-term potential, but also those whose potential should be monitored in the mid- and long-term as local market conditions change. The next step will be to assist CUNY in issuing RFPs and selecting developers for selected sites and structuring public private transactions.
