NYU is currently looking to expand its facilities by six milliongross sf for housing and academic facilities and has mentioned thatthe Polytechnic campus is on its radar as a potential area forremote growth. As GlobeSt.comrecently reported at a Association of Real Estate Women's luncheon,Lynne Brown, SVP for University Relations and Public Affairs atNYU, told attendees that one of the areas they were looking forspace included the Downtown Brooklyn MetroTech campus among otherlocations.

Polytechnic's MetroTech campus is located in Downtown Brooklyn;however, it also has graduate centers in Long Island, Westchesterand Manhattan. Although Polytechnic and NYU sources could notrespond to queries by deadline, an anonymous industry source tellsGlobeSt.com that "should the merger go through, it would relievesome of NYU's space issues in Manhattan. However, someone attendingNYU--and paying its tuition--would typically not be interested intraveling to Brooklyn, so it will not be an answer to a lot oftheir space needs issues."

In 2004, merger talks failed because Polytech felt there werenot enough mutual benefits. "Poly was just out of a bad series ofyears financially, and there were declining enrollments," he said."The discussion was not between equals--it was about how to savePoly. It felt imbalanced."