DASNY Bonds Provide Financing for New Science and Health Care Facilities at Columbia University

Columbia Nano Initiative (CNI) Clean Room

$325 Million Offering Furthers Investment in Rising Research Hub

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Gerrard P. Bushell, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), announced today the issuance of $325 million in bonds for the design, construction, and renovation of science and health care facilities at Columbia, and for other University projects. The financing will, in part, support the growth of an emerging research hub in northern Manhattan.

Part of the University’s ongoing investment into research facilities includes an upgrade and expansion of its CNI Nanofabrication Clean Room, a facility in the Engineering School at its Morningside Heights campus. Founded in 2014, the Columbia Nano Initiative (CNI) enables multidisciplinary and collaborative research programs in nanoscale science and engineering, supporting the Departments of Applied Physics, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, and Physics.

Other monies will go to provide additional space for academic and support services at the Jerome L. Greene Science Center, for which DASNY issued $50 million in green bonds on Columbia’s behalf in April 2016. The facility is part of the ongoing development of the Manhattanville campus, which has relied upon low-cost, tax-exempt DASNY bonds.

“DASNY is pleased to be able to assist Columbia with a financing that will help advance needed research,” said Portia Lee, Managing Director of Public Finance & Portfolio Monitoring at DASNY. “By investing in facilities for these students, we are advancing the work of doctors, scientists, and engineers who will drive innovation for all of New York.”

“Columbia is fortunate to have opportunities to enhance the quality of academic and research space on its Manhattanville, Morningside and Medical Center campuses,” said Anne Sullivan, Executive Vice President of Finance and IT for the University. “DASNY continues to be a collaborative partner in facilitating these important investments.”

Additional upgrades to University facilities include:

  • Design, development, and construction of all systems required to complete underground foundations for the Graduate School of Business;
  • Renovation of two levels of the historic Studebaker Building administrative facilities;
  • Renovation of research and support spaces of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons building at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center campus;
  • Expansion and modernization of the Vanderbilt Dental Clinic at the College of Dental Medicine;
  • Renovation of the 5th and 6th floors of the Hammer Health Sciences Building at The Institute for Genomic Medicine; and 
  • Renovation and expansion of other academic, research and administrative facilities at the Morningside Heights campus.

Visit DASNY's Flickr Page to view a photo of the Clean Room.

 

###

 

Founded in 1944, DASNY – the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York – is New York State’s capital project development authority. It finances and constructs sustainable and resilient science, health and education institutions that help New York thrive. It is one of the largest issuers of tax-exempt bonds in the nation with an outstanding bond portfolio of approximately $50.5 billion as of March 31, 2018. DASNY is also a major public builder with a construction pipeline of 932 projects valued at more than $6.2 billion as of March 31, 2018.