Construction to begin soon on City Tech’s new Klitgord building

October 11, 2012 By Linda Collins Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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The NYC College of Technology, known more familiarly as City Tech, will soon begin construction on a new building to replace the old Klitgord Building at 285 Jay St., corner of Tillary Street in Downtown Brooklyn.

Plans call for vacating the Klitgord Building in December, with preparation for demolition scheduled to begin shortly thereafter.

Perkins Eastman is designing what the Department of Buildings describes as an eight-story, 149-foot-tall, 356,389-square-foot academic/community facility building with 20 parking spaces.

Calling it an “academic complex,” City Tech President Russell Hotzler said that it will provide over 350,000 square feet of state-of-the-art facilities for the science and clinical health programs as well as a new theater, wellness center and athletic facilities.

“This represents the first time that laboratory facilities are being designed and built specifically to meet the needs of City Tech’s science and clinical health programs,” said Hotzler, in a published announcement.

He added that a major gifts campaign will be initiated.

“A number of business organizations have already expressed interest in being identified with the college’s new laboratory and clinical facilities,” he said.

As the Eagle reported five years ago, an earlier incarnation of the Klitgord replacement was to be a combined residential-academic complex — and Brooklyn’s tallest — in a joint effort with Forest City Ratner. That plan was later scrapped.

Also as the Eagle has reported, Voorhees Hall, also on Jay Street, has been undergoing a major facelift.

Thus, along with the start of construction of the new complex, the completion of renovations to Voorhees is near at hand. College officials estimate completion of that project within weeks when a new entrance can be unveiled. A formal opening will be announced.

The announcement about Klitgord was made along with a summarization of what’s new in the following areas:

• Enrollment — The student body exceeds 16,100 students this fall;

• Academic programs — With approval from CUNY, the school added four new baccalaureate programs in math, electrical engineering, construction engineering and biomedical informatics, bringing the total to 62; and

• Faculty — 28 new full-time tenure track faculty members have been hired, bringing its total to 426.

The increase in enrollment is thought to be due to an increase in the number of returning students and growing interest in the school’s baccalaureate offerings, according to Hotzler..
City Tech is the largest public college of technology in New York State.