When fully completed, the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island will include 2 million square feet of state-of-the-art buildings.

NEW YORK CITY—Citigroup has signed a lease deal totaling nearly 11,000 square feet at Forest City Ratner's Bridge at Cornell Tech property on Roosevelt Island to collaborate on programs with Cornell University graduate students, faculty and researchers on a number of programs.

Construction is underway on the first phase of Cornell Tech's campus on Roosevelt Island, which is scheduled to open this September. When fully completed, the campus will include 2 million square feet of state-of-the-art buildings, more than two acres of open space and will be home to more than 2,000 graduate students and hundreds of faculty and staff.

Cornell has leased 89,000 square feet of space at the 230,000-square-foot Bridge at Cornell Tech building. Citi has just leased 10,900 square feet at the Roosevelt Island building and will house between 70 to 80 employees focused on its customer banking experience that partner with start-ups on innovative technologies and safeguarding clients' information. The bank expects to open the new location in the first quarter of 2018.

Cornell Tech's temporary campus is currently operating at Google's Chelsea building since 2013.

The first phase of Cornell Tech's Roosevelt Island campus will include three buildings: The Bloomberg Center, the campus' first academic building; The Bridge at Cornell Tech and The House, a residential building for students, faculty and staff that aims to become the world's first high-rise residential building constructed to “Passive House” energy efficiency standards.

“Co-locating in The Bridge with companies, entrepreneurs and students will create an energized environment that fosters innovation and enables interaction with a wide range of emerging talent,” says Don Callahan, Citi's head of operations and technology. “As a firm headquartered in New York City, we are excited to be a part of this initiative with Cornell Tech that will develop and strengthen the City's technology talent and industry.”

Citi will tap into the expertise of Cornell Tech students and faculty to work closely on new capabilities and emerging technologies such as “blockchain,” machine learning and big data applications, biometric authentication, “Internet of Things,” and cyber security. The partnership, Citi states, will provide faculty and students the opportunity to work with Citi in exploring real-world solutions for Citi's clients and customers, through Product Challenges in Cornell Tech's Product Studio class, where student teams develop innovative new digital solutions working with companies and nonprofits.

Citi adds that the Citi Foundation will continue to work with Cornell Tech through their mutual support of the Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York initiative, a program designed to significantly increase the participation of women in technology fields in the New York market.

In March, AJ Capital Partners and Cornell University announced plans to build a hotel at the new Cornell Tech campus. Named Graduate Roosevelt Island, the 196-room ground-up property is slated to open in 2019.

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Citi Signs on at Bridge at Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island

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