Queens College signs dorm deal

Queens College (QC) will become the third member of the City University of New York (CUNY) to offer on-campus dormitory housing under a deal signed with Capstone Development Corporation recently.
The building will be “green,” according to plan, and qualify for a coveted Silver rating under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system overseen by the United States Green Building Council, which awards certification to structures that prevent waste and conserve energy in measurable ways.
LEED award-rankings are Silver, Gold and Platinum. Thus far, the Visitors’ Center in Queens Botanical Garden is the only LEED Platinum-rated building in New York City.
The residence hall, which Capstone will also manage, will have 506 beds, and occupy the land currently used for outdoor tennis courts, which will have to be relocated.
The project is being financed by $72 million in tax-exempt bonds issued by the New York City Housing Development Corporation, and supported by a Letter of Credit issued by RBS Citizens National Association. RBC Capital Markets is underwriting the bond issue.
According to QC, both the bonds and Letter of Credit are secured by project revenues only - no public funds are supporting the project, which is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2009.
Monthly rental rates will range from $920 for accommodations in a shared room to $1,150 for a single room.
Unlike a nearby dorm project by St. John’s University, which has been the subject of many demonstrations and mired in procedural delays, the QC project, being on-campus, does not require public review.
To ease community concerns about an already-difficult parking situation, 200 hundred parking spaces will be created, 89 below and adjacent to the building and the remainder elsewhere on campus, according to QC.
Nevertheless, leaders of nearby civic associations and co-ops are objecting.
In a letter to The Queens Courier in March, the presidents of Flushing on the Hill and Kew Gardens Hills Civic Associations, and three nearby co-ops flatly declare, “Queens College is not in the housing business.”
In the letter, they take City Councilmember James Gennaro to task for not doing more to oppose the project, as he has done with the St. John’s dorm.
“The community has legitimate quality of life concerns regarding this project, and as their Councilmember, I will do everything I can to work with the Queens College leadership to get these concerns addressed,” Gennaro promised. “It’s vital that we preserve the character of the neighborhood surrounding Queens College as the college grows,” he said.
Since 1994, the Alabama-based Capstone Development Corporation has specialized in student housing for more than 55 colleges and universities, including City College. Currently it manages over 15,000 beds on 19 campuses, nationwide.