Brooklyn Broadside: New Science Center Would Be Welcome Addition to Downtown Brooklyn Academic Community

February 10, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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By Dennis Holt

Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN — The prospects of an NYU-Polytechnic science center at 370 Jay St. point to a number of intriguing and positive outcomes.

One is a more vibrant Downtown Brooklyn. Here stands a moribund building of significant size in a prime location. The renderings provided by NYU show a very modern attractive facade that will be a welcome addition to the new downtown being created.

The new school would improve the setting for the adjacent Brooklyn Friends School. And speaking of schools, one can envision a tutorial relationship between the new center and the high schools in the area, such as Friends, St. Joseph’s and Westinghouse.

The existence of an applied science center may help encourage private sector elements to locate in the downtown area. It will add more people — faculty, staff and students — to the downtown area. This, in turn, may lead to a general upgrading of the goods and services that are available.

For example, it might attract a new bookstore in the area. Barnes and Noble is a little too far away.

And it is gratifying to sit back and reflect on the reality that Downtown Brooklyn might now be viewed as one large college campus. Brooklyn Law School is one of the best in the metropolitan area. The general and liberal arts schools, such as Long Island University and St. Francis, provide a multi-disciplined education. NYU-Polytechnic and City Tech provide science, engineering and vocational courses of instruction. And just off-campus is one of the nation’s best-known architectural and design institutions — Pratt Institute.

The whole neighborhood could be called the Brooklyn Central Institution of Learning!