Keith Powers
0:43:10
Thank you, everyone, for being here today.
0:43:12
I'm city council member Keith Powers representing the site that we are discussing today, the spark the proposal for the Sparks Kippe campus.
0:43:20
I wanna thank chair Riley for giving me some time to speak today on this proposal.
0:43:25
I know you have a long day, so I'll try to keep my version short.
0:43:28
But it's certainly an exciting and interesting project for the Kipps Bay area and, borough of Manhattan.
0:43:33
I wanna first state my, excitement for the idea of substantial investment in a life sciences field that's being introduced here in Manhattan and in my district, something that I think anytime we have a large investment and opportunity to grow our economy here in city is something we should celebrate.
0:43:51
I wanna note that the, there have been former plans on this, project that the community long opposed.
0:43:58
So we are grateful to see a project that brings a lot more investment and a lot more consensus to the table, and we deeply appreciate that.
0:44:06
The proposal here today is a campus that, would bring much new life sciences and education opportunity and, health care services, to the Kipps Bay neighborhood.
0:44:19
A brand new high school, that way, partnering with the campus to introduce students to aspects of the life sciences field, a new state of the art facility for the office of the chief medical examiner, a new and H and H RAN Ambulatory Care and Wellness Center, a new CUNY Healthcare and Public Health Campus that brings together programs from 3 schools, Hunter, Burrough of Manhattan Community College, and the Graduate School of Public Health and Policy Public Health and Health Policy.
0:44:46
And, we believe we'll deliver 13,000 construction jobs and potentially 31100 permanent jobs once it's fully operated, one acre of new and enhanced public realm, and a publicly accessible central open space.
0:45:00
Every time I read those things, I feel like I left something off, so you guys will probably tell me which part I I I I left off.
0:45:07
And I think that we have seen that forming a physical cluster and network of life sciences is essential for the success of this industry.
0:45:14
And this is one of the several city led projects in that area to encourage the growth of the life sciences industry to help attract talent and jobs.
0:45:22
This is expected to deliver 1,000,000 square feet of life sciences space, which will be crucial to, I believe, our 2030 goal of 10,000,000.
0:45:31
I believe that's still our goal, and that will be, a major addendum.
0:45:34
I wanna thank my staff, both, Pat and Ben who are here today for being actively involved in this and, all members of the community who have participated in our task force and offered critical input at all times about how to make this project, that will be their permanent neighbor a successful project for the community.
0:45:54
Myself living only about footsteps away from this project, I know how important it is to make sure this is a good neighbor as well.
0:46:00
I wanna commend, council member Rivera here as well and the other electeds who have been participants in that project.
0:46:07
And I'll, of course, take the opportunity to ask questions after the presentation as well.
0:46:10
So thank you guys for being here
