2 Court Square, courtesy LICRealEstateBlog

Students and professors at CUNY Law School are questioning why their institution is shelling out $155 million for a new building in Long Island City, when similar ones with far lower pricetags are available in Manhattan. Again and again they've inquired about the city-funded purchase of a six-floor building at 2 Court Square—a property owned by Citibank—but the administration repeats the same refrain: that the price “is far less than it would have cost CUNY to construct a new building for the Law School, which an independent architectural firm estimated would be $250 million.” Real estate professionals agree the transaction is suspect. “I think it’s a great deal for Citibank, obviously,” said one knowledgeable broker.

Last year the Observer reported on Prof. Dinesh Kosla, a passionate devotee of civil disobedience according to his faculty profile, who figured out that in some Manhattan buildings square footage costs half the approximately $600/square foot at 2 Court Square. “In my humble opinion, the price we are paying is beyond reason,” he wrote to the school. “We should not be spending public money to cover the mistakes of the likes of Citigroup. We should proceed with the acquisition but only pay what the free market determines to be the fair value.” The $155 million sale price doesn't even take into account $25 million worth of planned renovations, according to the Times.

There's another problem too, according to longtime CUNY Law School prof Sid Harring. The move from the current Flushing location to LIC may put the school's "soul" at risk by distancing it from the many low-income clients it serves through its many legal clinics. Other large office building in Queens are available for as little as $63/square foot.

Not all faculty members are opposed: some point out the new building is more energy efficient, and will increase the school's visibility. But Khosla, who compares the purchase to a donation to a “rich, inefficient corporate master”, is far from convinced.