Bank United Provides $70M Refi for CUNY Journalism School HQ
The 20-story building was built in 1923 and used to house the New York Herald Tribune
By Brian Pascus July 23, 2024 3:45 pm
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The Research Foundation of the City University of New York has secured $70 million to refinance a 20-story office building that serves as the headquarters for the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in the heart of Times Square, Commercial Observer can first report.
Bank United provided the 10-year, fixed rate loan. Colliers (CIGI)’ team of Thomas Welch, Adam Coppola and Rose Liu arranged the loan on behalf of the Research Foundation of the City University of New York, a nonprofit that is both a tenant and the prime owner of the building.
“We’re pleased to have facilitated a new strategic permanent refinancing with Bank United following the financing we helped secure 10 years ago,” said Welch in a statement.
Located at 230 West 41st Street — directly off Broadway and just steps from the site of the Times Square New Year’s Eve ball drop — the 1920s-era office building is the site of both the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and the headquarters for the Research Foundation for the City University of New York.
Hector Cordero-Guzmán, president of the Research Foundation for the City University of New York, thanked the work Colliers’ team did on the deal and said his arm of the college “values its long-term relationship with Colliers and looks forward to developing a collaborative relationship with Bank United.”
219 West 40th Street was built in 1923. The building is the former headquarters of the New York Herald Tribune, a classic daily newspaper published between 1924 and 1966.
The building’s prime tenant today — The Newmark School of Journalism — is the only publicly funded graduate journalism school in the Northeast. The graduate school had an annual enrollment of 90 students in 2023.
The Research Foundation of the City University of New York bought the building in July 2004 for $60 million in anticipation of opening the Newmark School of Journalism in 2006, according to the New York Times.
Colliers’ Welch described the building as “a landmark property that is an important cultural and academic hub within the city.”
Correction: The $70 million refinancing for the office building housing the City University of New York’s graduate school of journalism was in fact secured by the Research Foundation of the City University of New York, not by CUNY itself.
Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com
