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Stony Brook University is leading a consortium of higher education institutions chosen to turn Governors Island—a 172-acre plot of land in New York City’s harbor—into a 400,000-square-foot climate research campus, The New York Times reported Monday.
Known as the New York Climate Exchange, the campus will focus on finding solutions to the global climate crisis and training workers for green jobs. It will serve as a “living laboratory,” the Times reported, featuring new classrooms, research facilities and buildings covered in vegetation.
Construction is expected to begin in 2025 and be completed in 2028. The campus will eventually accommodate 600 college students, 6,000 job trainees and 250 faculty members and researchers each year.
The Stony Brook–led consortium was chosen from three finalists named last year to develop the facility on car-free Governors Island, which served as an outpost of the Dutch West India Company and a prison for Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. In 2003, the federal government handed over control of the island to New York City, on the condition it not be used for housing. Ever since, city officials have been seeking innovative ways to repurpose the land.
In addition to Stony Brook, which is part of the State University of New York system, the consortium includes the Georgia Institute of Technology, Pace University and the Pratt Institute, as well as IBM and the Boston Consulting Group. While much of the $700 million price tag will be covered by city capital funds and philanthropic donations, the consortium is responsible for raising $400 million and will cover the operational costs.
