NYU CUSP to Launch at MetroTech as 370 Jay Street Facility is Transformed

NYU's Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) today announced that it will launch its inaugural programs and host its first class of 50 students at MetroTech in Downtown Brooklyn next fall. With construction beginning now on approximately 26,000 square feet of space in 1 MetroTech Center, CUSP will occupy the MetroTech space, leased to the University by Forest City Ratner Companies, in February 2013 as NYU continues to transform the former Metropolitan Transit Authority facility at 370 Jay Street into its permanent home.

CUSP's facilities at MetroTech and 370 Jay Street – which will eventually total more than half a million square feet – will build on NYU's existing presence in Brooklyn, which includes NYU-Poly, by bringing together global leaders of science, technology, and education while anchoring the next phase of economic development initiatives in the area. CUSP, one of the winning proposals submitted in response to the City's Applied Sciences NYC initiative, will, at full strength, include 50 researchers and faculty members from universities and private industry, along with more than 400 Masters students and 100 Ph.D. candidates, as well as adjuncts, post-doctoral scholars and support staff.

"The innovative faculty and students at CUSP will set out to tackle urban challenges and bring innovative solutions to a world market, and it's only appropriate that we begin shaping these ideas in Brooklyn – one of the most dynamic neighborhoods in the world," said Steven Koonin, Director of CUSP. "There is no place better to be doing this work, and we look forward to working with Brooklyn and NYC to create new partnerships, urban products, companies and jobs."

"CUSP will have a monumental impact on our City's economy, generating $5.5 billion in nominal economic activity, creating more than 7,000 jobs, and spinning off 200 companies over the coming decades," said New York City Economic Development Corporation President Seth W. Pinsky. "At the same time, the academic programs and cutting-edge research generated by this institution will help solve some of the major modern challenges that large cities like New York City are certain to face. I am pleased to welcome CUSP to Brooklyn, where it will play a critical role for our City for generations."

"With NYU's Center for Urban Science and Progress, Brooklyn will further cement its status as ‘College Town, U-S-A' - with more college students than even Cambridge, Massachusetts," said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. "I have been a strong advocate for the redevelopment of 370 Jay into a job-creating applied sciences epicenter, and as NYU continues to expand in our borough, they clearly understand that Brooklyn is the place to be—and learn. With CUSP's presence as a high-tech education hub at MetroTech and 370 Jay in Downtown Brooklyn, the new 40,000-square-foot business incubator at NYU-Poly, and the emergence of the Tech Triangle and growth of our hi-tech small businesses, Brooklyn is undoubtedly the next Silicon Valley. Congratulations to CUSP on the occasion of its inaugural class, and bravo to the 50 students who will soon be building the Brooklyn of tomorrow!"

"In a few short years NYU has made a very strong impression on the Downtown Brooklyn area," said MaryAnne Gilmartin, Executive Vice President for Forest City Ratner Companies. "With the addition of CUSP, MetroTech Center and Downtown Brooklyn as a whole continue to emerge as a hub of technology and innovation in New York City."

"Already known as New York City's Collegetown, Downtown Brooklyn will be forever changed by the commitment that NYU is making here today," said Tucker Reed, president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. "The opening of CUSP will truly signal our arrival as a center for innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship."

Features of the Center's immediate space at 1 MetroTech include:

• Eighty-three offices and workstations for faculty, visiting industrial researchers, administrators, and staff.
• Four easily reconfigured collaborative spaces at the corners of the building that give everyone working at CUSP access to views of the city they are studying.
• Two large visualization labs which will allow researchers to gain insight and understanding of large urban data sets or phenomena that are simulated in large, complex computer models.
• An electronics lab for the design and fabrication of low-cost hardware that collects validated, crowd-sourced urban data.

NYU has completed its assessment of 370 Jay Street and full construction will take an estimated five years. Putting the long-empty building to use would create a hub for science and technology that connects the emerging tech community in Downtown Brooklyn and the surrounding neighborhoods with CUSP, as well as Poly's existing campus, adding to the economic vibrancy of the area. The City and NYU will transform 370 Jay Street into CUSP classrooms, offices, and laboratory space. An additional 40,000 square feet will be used in coordination with NYU-Poly as incubator space for businesses spun off by CUSP-related research.

CUSP is an applied science research institute created by New York University and NYU-Poly with a consortium of world-class universities and leading international tech companies. At the heart of its academic program, CUSP will investigate and develop solutions to the challenges that face cities around the world. The Center will be the first program to assemble a global consortium to focus on this area of research and development at this scale, making it the world's leading authority in the emerging field of "urban informatics."