John Jay faced the largest space deficit in the CUNY system. On January 5, 2005, the Planning Commission approved the 513,500 sq.ft. expansion plan for John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which, with its link to John Jay’s Haaren Hall along Tenth Avenue between West 58th and West 59th Streets, will create a unified urban campus occupying the full city block from Tenth to Eleventh Avenues between West 58th and West 59th Streets.

In addition to John Jay’s Haaren Hall along Tenth Avenue, the 160,700 sq.ft. city block contains a 320,000 sq.ft. warehouse, housing a newspaper distribution center, a general contractor’s office and two parking lots, and a below-grade rail line for Amtrak’s Empire Line. The manufacturing building would be demolished and a small 6,580 sq.ft. development platform constructed over the Amtrak rail line for the expansion. (more…)