CUNY eyes LIC site for graduate dorm

The City University of New York (CUNY) hopes to house more than 200 graduate students in a new dorm in Long Island City, but a number of local residents have already come out against the plan.
In a meeting on Wednesday, November 14, Community Board 2’s Land Use Committee voted unanimously to reject the development, which includes a 13-story residential building and six-story dorm.
“The project, that as you know was presented to us, is out of character with the neighborhood,” said Joseph Conley, the Chair of Community Board 2, which represents the area.
In a letter to the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA), which was also sent to the developer, Conley wrote, “Dormitory housing in itself is transient housing at its best and offers no stability to the community. We believe that it is a detriment to the growth of Hunters Point.”
However, CUNY reps said that the students, many of whom are young professors and teach within the CUNY system, would be required to spend at least one year at the planned dormitory if it is built.
“We are not talking about kids in a frat house. We are talking about students that have completed their bachelor’s degree and are studying for their master’s,” said attorney Sid Davidoff, of Davidoff, Malito & Hutcher, which was brought on to serve as co-counsel for the project.
Davidoff also touted aspects of the proposed facility - located at 5-11 47th Avenue — including a possible health club and small shops as beneficial to the community and the location of the site as ideal for its graduate students. Students and teachers could travel to CUNY’s Manhattan locations on the No. 7 train from the site, which university officials hope will be a “community of scholars,” a spokesperson said.
“CUNY thinks it’s great, and we think it’s a great idea,” Davidoff said.
The preliminary plans for the project include 18,000 square feet of outdoor recreational space, 8,000 square feet of retail space, and 87 underground parking spaces. The eastern portion of the lot would be owned by CUNY, and the western side would be retained by O’Connor Capital, the developer, for the 169-unit residential building.
The dorm would contain apartments for 220 grad students as well as 12 faculty townhouses, but the school has not designated how many of the student dorms would be studios, one bedrooms and two bedrooms. In addition, the planned height of the project has not been set definitively.
A spokesperson for the project expects the BSA to hold a hearing on the matter in February.