Capital Budget
Funding Physical Facilities and Information Technology Infrastructure
The capital budget provides funding for the University’s physical facilities and information technology infrastructure. The fiscal 2021 budget is a conservative budget that reflects the University’s need to preserve liquidity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The budget focuses on the completion of six priority projects (detailed below) in addition to prioritizing campus infrastructure life/safety projects and required IT investments. All other capital initiatives have been postponed or significantly reduced until the financial situation stabilizes.
In fiscal 2021, budgeted capital expenditures total $564 million. Sources of funding include:
- Long-term financing accounts for 76% of the total, or $431 million. The University’s ability to finance its capital program is facilitated by NYU’s market access, as recognized by ratings on NYU’s general obligation unsecured debt from Moody’s and S&P of Aa2 and AA-, respectively.
- Philanthropy, government grants, and transfers from operating budgets make up the remaining 24%, or $133 million.
The capital budget is used for the following purposes in fiscal 2021:
- 44% of capital expenditures will be for improvements to, or new construction of, academic facilities
- 25% of capital spending will improve existing student housing and other facilities that house student services
- 24% of the capital budget will be used for campus infrastructure, including information technology infrastructure initiatives
- 7% of the capital budget will be used to improve existing faculty housing
- Spending for capital maintenance to keep all University buildings in good repair is included in the campus infrastructure category above, and totals $60 million dollars
On This Page
Selection of Major Projects Funded in the Fiscal 2021 Capital Budget
181 Mercer Street – Mixed-Use Building
181 Mercer Street is a new mixed-use building under construction at the site of the former Coles Sports and Recreation Center on Mercer Street between Bleecker and Houston Streets in Manhattan. The building, which is approximately 735,000 square feet, will include the following spaces:
- A 350-seat proscenium theater designed for both Tisch and Steinhardt’s needs with required ancillary spaces
- Teaching theaters and practice rooms with supporting spaces for Tisch and Steinhardt’s performing arts programs
- Student housing that will accommodate approximately 415 beds within a residential college model and a new dining facility
- Approximately 55-60 classrooms and student study spaces throughout the building
- 42 faculty apartments
- A new athletic and recreation center, including a gym space designed to accommodate large functions with up to 2,300 - 3,000 persons
The building will represent design excellence while achieving the academic and programmatic goals of the University. The previous Coles building was closed in February 2016 and the building demolished. Structural steel work has topped out, curtainwall installation is underway, and the new building is expected to open and be occupied for fall semester of 2022.
370 Jay Street – Mixed-Use Academic Building
The initial phase of construction that included façade restoration, window replacement, and mechanical and telecommunications infrastructure has been completed, and the first occupants moved into the building in November 2017. As of summer 2019, the building was fully occupied. The new and expanded lobby was opened in fall 2020, and the balance of construction in cellar areas will be completed by the first quarter of 2021. The building contains academic departmental and research space, classrooms, a 200-seat lecture hall, flexible digital media studios, and ground floor retail. Occupants of the 500,000 square foot building include:
- Tisch School of the Arts (TSOA)
- Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music
- Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP)
- Interactive Media Arts
- TSOA NYU Game Center
- Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music
- Tandon
- Game Innovation Lab
- Integrated Digital Media (IDM)
- Computer Science Engineering
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP)
- Steinhardt
- Educational Communication and Technology
- Steinhardt Music and Audio Research Laboratory (MARL)
- Interdisciplinary
- Ability Project (Tandon, TSOA and Steinhardt)
- Marron Institute (Provost's Office)
404 Lafayette/708 Broadway – School of Global Public Health
The first permanent home of the School of Global Public Health will be located at 404 Lafayette/708 Broadway. Renovations are underway, including new infrastructure and mechanical systems, and the building is expected to be ready for occupancy in early 2021. The 113,000 square feet of newly renovated space will provide the University with departmental office space, research space, multi-purpose student space, and conference/training rooms.
Co-Generation Plant Expansion
Expansion of the Co-Generation (“CoGen”) Plant will provide new electrical generating and chiller/hot water capacity to allow for future expansion to support University buildings and to support the 181 Mercer Street facility. By generating its own electricity, the University reduces its carbon footprint and energy costs by recovering waste heat to produce additional energy benefits. The project has been phased to ensure that CoGen remains operational during construction. To-date, Bleecker and West 3rd Street utility crossings work has been completed and the streets restored. New 5 KV and 480 V switchgears have been energized and brought online for completion of electrical and mechanical systems. Construction completion is expected in the first quarter of 2021.
Chemical Biology / Brown Building Floors 3 and 4; Waverly Building Floors 3 - 6
Plans are underway to significantly enhance and expand Chemical Biology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences across three core areas: Cancer Chemical Biology, Chemical Neuroscience, and Molecular Spectroscopy and Imaging. Highly collaborative and interdisciplinary, Chemical Biology is a rapidly growing and wide-ranging field of study at the interface of chemistry and biology that employs chemical techniques to understand complex biologic systems at the molecular level. Once complete, the multi-year renovations for Chemical Biology will have added and improved approximately 115,000 square feet of laboratory, academic and departmental administrative space across four buildings in NYU’s science core.
- Brown Building Floors 3 and 4: approximately 9,300 SF of space is being renovated, including gut renovation of existing 4th Floor labs for Chemical Biology research and installation of 19 fume hoods, a tissue culture room, instrumentation lab, 27 workstations and 3 Principal Investigator offices. On the 3rd Floor, the existing NMR Lab will be expanded to accommodate a new 800 NMR for research. The project is substantially complete; the 4th Floor is occupied and the project is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2020.
- Waverly Building Floors 3 through 6: approximately 15,200 SF of space on floors 3 through 6 of the Waverly Building will be renovated to create new administrative offices for Chemistry and Biology Departments with a shared “Learning Center.” The project includes window replacements and a concrete topping slab on all floors. The project is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2020.