REMARKS
Council Member Powers outlines benefits of SPARC project in Kips Bay
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Council Member Keith Powers delivers remarks on the Science Park And Research Campus (SPARC) project in Kips Bay, highlighting its potential to boost the life sciences industry and invest in education. He details the numerous benefits the project will bring to his district and the city, including new educational facilities, job opportunities, and public spaces.
- The project will replace the Brookdale campus with new CUNY facilities, a high school, and life sciences space
- It includes the creation of a new waterfront park, pedestrian bridge, and enhanced public realm space
- The development is expected to create 15,000 new jobs, including 12,000 construction jobs and 3,000 permanent positions
Keith Powers
0:49:02
Thank you.
0:49:04
Thanks everyone.
0:49:04
And, thank you everyone.
0:49:06
We'll be voting today on a big project coming to Kips Kipps Bay, the Science Park And Research Campus we call SPARK, a life sciences project in my district at Kipps Bay.
0:49:16
A project that presents a tremendous opportunity for both my district and the entire city to be on the cutting edge in the life science industry while further investing in our education, institutions.
0:49:27
The project is meant to replace a dilapidated Brookdale campus on 20 Fifth Street with new CUNY facilities, a new high school, public health infrastructure, and new space to continue growing development in life sciences.
0:49:39
When I took off office, there was a proposal here that the community deeply opposed to.
0:49:43
So now years later, we have a proposal to bolster the health care and life science industry already in that area and investing in education.
0:49:50
As part of it, we're getting a brand new high school, a new steam center, though, in Manhattan, the first for our borough, the third citywide, and three new CUNY campuses serving Hunter College, BMCC, and the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Public Policy and Health Policy.
0:50:05
We're getting a net increase in available CUNY dorms in Midtown and in the Upper East Side, new nonprofit programming in the local schools, an expansion of three k seats in the ZIP code nearby, a new state of the art facility for the office of the chief medical examiner, a new H and H ambulatory Care and Wellness Center for Bellevue, a whole new acre of enhanced public realm space, and a new park across the street.
0:50:30
We're converting a private parking lot to on city owned land to a brand new waterfront park on 30 Fourth Street, a brand new and newly accessible pedestrian bridge for the folks that live in Waterside Plaza, an investment in Solar One, a nearby nonprofit in Stuyvesant Cove Park, a new search for affordable housing in this neighborhood, partnering with my, colleague across the street, council member Rivera, and last but not least, 15,000 new jobs, 12,000 construction jobs, and over third 3,000 permanent jobs.
0:50:59
But maybe importantly, educational opportunities to connect to those jobs.
0:51:03
I wanna thank the entire EDC team.
0:51:05
I wanna thank the council land use and planning division, and I wanna thank Pat and Ben from my office.
0:51:10
I'm so excited about this project, and I urge everyone to vote aye.
0:51:13
Thanks so much.