Cuomo clears way for senior living at SUNY

Purchase College has growing clout beyond pageant queens and performing arts these days following Gov. Cuomo”™s recent signage of a bill allowing the SUNY school to lease for development an unused 40 acres on campus.

The plan is to build a senior-living community, with the college reasoning an adult population would mean more patrons for its educational and artistic programs.

The bill will allow the school to lease the land from the state to the entity Purchase College Advancement Corp., which would enter a leasehold agreement with the site developer.

Project costs have been floated in the $100 million to $300 million range, SUNY Purchase President Thomas Schwarz told the Business Journal earlier this summer.

The maximum number of units approved for development is 385.

The law mandates 75 percent of the revenue generated from the development be allocated toward financial aid and scholarships for students; Schwarz estimated annual leasehold payments could range from $2.5 million to $3 million “if not more.”

Prior to the governor”™s signing the bill, Joshua Reap, director of government affairs at the Associated Builders and Contractors”™ Empire State chapter, authored a local op-ed piece stating non-union contractors would essentially be axed from the competitive equation on this project by labor mandates, which he said would contribute to rising construction costs.

“We respect the agenda of the Associated Builders and Contractors and recognize the need to protect small businesses,” Schwarz said in a statement. “Purchase College has been recognized by SUNY and the state for its hiring practices among minority and women-owned businesses.”

Schwarz said that moving forward with development, hiring policies will be “economically prudent and inclusive.”