Cooper Union to use Chrysler lease proceeds to restore full-tuition scholarships
Developer Tishman Speyer has taken over the ground lease for Manhattan’s Chrysler Building from Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, a private college, according to BBC News. Tishman Speyer and its partners have committed $235 million (£178 million) to a renovation that will polish and restore the skyscraper’s distinctive Art Deco crown and refurbish its 77-storey façade.
The renovation will also include internal upgrades to the building’s mechanical, elevator, electrical and air handling systems, according to BBC News. On the 61st floor — home to huge eagle gargoyles that architect William Van Alen modeled on hood ornaments found on the 1929 Chrysler car — the developer plans an “upscale” lounge.
Tishman Speyer intends to use most of the building, which sits near Grand Central Terminal, for office space, following what it calls a “prebuild approach” that allows firms to move into their new premises quickly. The developer told BBC News that the surrounding area “has one of the lowest office availability rates in Manhattan” and that “construction of new office supply in the neighbourhood has been virtually nonexistent for decades.”
Cooper Union has owned the land beneath the Chrysler Building since 1902. The land was bequeathed to the college by the children of Peter Cooper, the manufacturer and industrialist who founded Cooper Union in 1859. Cooper Union alumni include inventor Thomas Edison. Under the deal, Tishman Speyer will make ground lease payments to the college, which plans to use the proceeds to finance “a bold plan to restore full-tuition scholarships for all undergraduates,” according to BBC News. Cooper Union president Steven McLaughlin said: “The significance of this agreement is ultimately about what it makes possible for generations of Cooper Union students.”
The 1,046-foot (319-meter) Chrysler Building held the title of world’s tallest building for less than a year when it opened, before being surpassed by the nearby Empire State Building. Its construction was financed by Walter Chrysler, the motor magnate, beginning in 1928 and completed two years later.