Cuomo Looks To Sell CUNY Building To Fill Budget Gap: Reports

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — Governor Andrew Cuomo is allegedly looking to sell a six-story building currently used by the City University of New York (CUNY) to fill a budget gap in CUNY funding, Politico reports.

The building at 450 West 41st St., between Ninth and 10th avenues, formally housed Hunter College's Master of Fine Arts program. The college has continued to use it, but the state owns it.

Cuomo's preliminary budget for CUNY's senior colleges went from $1.21 billion in fiscal year 2017 to $1.14 billion in fiscal year 2018, which prompted him to want to sell the 170,000-square-foot building. The sale would help offset the 5.2-percent reduction in state funding.

"The expected sale of certain CUNY capital assets will result in available resources to partially offset State support for CUNY," the governor's financial plan states.

If the state sells the building building, as much as $60 million of the sale's proceeds could go to senior colleges.

"If the asset is sold, the state would reinvest the funds into the CUNY system," Cuomo press secretary Dani Lever said in a statement.

Read the full Politico article here.

Photo: Pat Arnow/Flickr