Tempestuous legal drama over the Chrysler Building between Cooper Union and real estate mogul Aby Rosen ended in decisive victory for the bonafide New York school this week. On October 31, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Jennifer Schecter sided with Cooper Union when Chrysler Building tenants were ordered to pay rent directly to the school instead of Rosen’s company, RFR.
The Chrysler Building was completed in 1930, but Cooper Union has owned its ground lease since 1902. The rent Cooper Union accrues from tenants has historically helped subsidize the tuition-free education it provides students. Rosen’s company, RFR, has owned the Chrysler Building’s leasehold since 2019.
Previously, Rosen sued Cooper Union after the school opted to evict RFR from the premises on September 27. The Chrysler Building is roughly 60 percent leased—Cooper Union is now suing RFR for $21 million in back rent. Schecter will decide that case as well.
In a public statement by Cooper Union interim president Malcolm King after Schecter’s decision was announced on October 31, King said Cooper Union opted to evict RFR, the ground lessee since 2019, because it stopped making monthly ground lease payments, which resulted in “default of the ground lease agreement.”
King also that Cooper Union hired Cushman & Wakefield to help with the transition “for the building and our tenants who will pay their rent directly to Cooper Union.” He also said that none of this legal drama will “have an impact on student scholarship levels, nor on the recent announcement that seniors will attend tuition free in each of the next four years.”
“We have built important reserves and surpluses over the last seven years as part of our financial turnaround work and implementation of the Plan to Return to Full-Tuition Scholarships,” King elaborated. “We planned for a range of scenarios, including this one, and built in guardrails to our financial turnaround plan through fundraising, revenue generation, and expense management to protect against potentially negative events (such as COVID or a lease termination), all while holding tuition flat for six straight years and continuing to raise scholarship levels for students.”
