Cornell Tech Campus to Welcome New Graduate

By Barbra Murray

New York—Cornell University will be the latest college campus to become home to one of AJ Capital Partners’ Graduate Hotels-branded properties. AJ Capital will erect Graduate Roosevelt Island, a 196-key hotel on the university’s new Cornell Tech graduate education campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City.

Graduate Roosevelt Island Hotel

Envisioned to spark a memory-making environment, the Graduate Hotels flag flies above individualized, on-campus lodging properties reflecting the energy of their respective schools and surrounding communities. The hotel at Cornell Tech will be as novel as the new campus, the first phase of which will open in September 2017.

“The [Graduate Roosevelt Island] hotel will sit prominently at the gateway to Cornell Tech, the most innovative academic campus in the world; and will offer guests, campus visitors and Roosevelt Island citizens a truly distinctive and unique experience,” Ben Weprin, CEO of AJ Capital Partners, said in a prepared statement.

Designed by architectural firm Snøhetta, the flash drive-thin hotel tower will offer a restaurant and café, a rooftop bar and 5,200 square feet of meeting and event space, all of which will be available to hotel guests, students, staff and the general public.

Graduate Roosevelt Island is one of a handful of initial buildings due to sprout up on the Cornell Tech campus, the master plan of which was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The 12-acre site will also feature The Bloomberg Center academic building; The Bridge, a corporate co-location facility; the Verizon Executive Education Center; and The House, a residential property that will provide accommodations to students and staff, and, if all goes as planned, hold the distinction of being the first residential high-rise built to Passive House energy efficient construction standards. Graduate Roosevelt Island is scheduled to welcome its first quests in 2019.

AJ Capital launched the Graduate Hotels brand in 2014, after conducting inspired research of top college and university markets across the U.S. As noted in a company brochure, “What we found surprised us: College towns are awash in enthusiasm—for sports, restaurants, bars, museums and boutiques. Hotels, however, left much to be desired.” Presently, there are 12 existing or underway Graduate Hotels properties. AJ Capital expects to have a portfolio of 20 of the branded hotels by 2019.

Image courtesy of Cornell University and Snøhetta