Major Real Estate Deal Provides Stern with Sorely Needed Space

In a step intended to keep the physical facilities of Stern College in line with the increasing size of its student body, Yeshiva University has acquired effective control of a large Midtown Manhattan property at 205-215 Lexington Avenue between 32nd and 33rd streets, The Commentator has learned.

According to sources within the YU administration, the University has been searching for a real estate acquisition to alleviate crowding on the Midtown Campus for some time. A dire housing shortage compounded by classroom overcrowding left little space for SCW to expand. The opening of the Schottenstein Residence Hall added needed dormitory space but did nothing to add classrooms.

With Manhattan property prices reaching stratospheric heights, the Stern College Board made what is collectively regarded by YU administrators as a colossal blunder. The property adjacent to the Midtown center on the corner of 34th and Lexington went on the market, but, owing to the Stern Board's refusal, the University failed to purchase the lot. Bought by the Catholic Diocese of New York instead, construction promptly began on a the future home of a religious seminary. The din from the construction has rendered the classrooms overlooking the site difficult for students to use, exacerbating an already uncomfortable situation.

The new buildings are intended to provide a measure of immediate relief while ensuring growing room for the future. Consisting of two towers of twenty-one and nineteen stories respectively, the buildings have numerous long-term leaseholders, necessitating a complex financial transaction to obtain the property. As of press time, both the Office of Business Affairs and the Office of Public Relations refused to comment, but sources inform The Commentator that due to the financial intricacies involved a limited partner in the property has been obtained as part of the purchase.

The University is taking immediate control of four large floors on the lower stories of the buildings. Totaling nearly a fourth of the available space, the floors will be used for classrooms and office space, including offices for the Sy Syms School of Business. Discussions are already underway concerning the feasibility of creating a separate student entrance on the northern side of the buildings.