Directs the state university trustees, without any public bidding, to lease and otherwise contract to make a portion of the lands of SUNY Stony Brook on its campus to the Stony Brook Housing Development Corp. for the purpose of building undergraduate student, graduate student, faculty and staff housing; limits such lease to a period not exceeding 100 years.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8070
SPONSOR: Kassay TITLE OF BILL:
An act in relation to authorizing the lease of certain lands for the
purpose of building undergraduate student, graduate student, faculty and
staff housing
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to authorize SUNY Stony Brook to lease
certain land to construct multi-purpose facilities to support housing
needs and supporting amenities on its Stony Brook campus.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Legislative findings
Section 2. Authorizes the SUNY Trustees, without public bidding, to
lease and otherwise contract with the Stony Brook Housing Development
Corp.
Section 3. Provides that any contract or lease entered pursuant to this
act shall be deemed a state contract for purposes of Article 15-A of the
Executive Law.
Section 4. Provides that all work performed on a project authorized by
this act shall be deemed public work.
Section 5. Ensures the state university of New York shall not contract
out to the ground lessee or any subsidiary for the instruction or any
pedagogical functions or services, or any administrative services, and
similar professional services currently being performed by state employ-
ees at Stony Brook. Further prohibits contracting out services currently
provided by public employees.
Section 6. Provides definitions to "project" and "project labor agree-
ment".
Section 7. Provides that any rights or benefits of employees of the
State University of New York should not be waived or impaired.
Section 8. Provides that Stony Brook Housing Development Corporation
shall require for, a project to enter into a project labor agreement and
shall be subject to competitive bidding laws.
Section 9. Provides the lack of specific terms and conditions of these
contracts recognizing Stony Brook Housing Development Corporation leeway
on the activities that can be implemented.
Section 10. Provides an indemnity provision and the lessee or sublessee
promises to indemnify, hold harmless and defend the lessor against a
comprehensive list of risks.
Section 11. Provides that any contracts entered into pursuant to this
act shall be awarded by a competitive process.
Section 12. Provides the metes and bounds on the grounds of the Stony
Brook campus totaling roughly 17 acres.
Section 13. Provides that any ground lease shall be executed within 5
years of the effective date of this act.
Section 14. Provides that the provisions of this act shall be
controlled. in case of inconsistency with the provisions of any law.
Section 15. Establishes the enacting clause.
JUSTIFICATION:
Stony Brook University's main campus is located in Stony Brook, New
York, and consists of an academic campus, which includes the Research &
Development Park ("West Campus"), and two hospitals (Stony Brook Univer-
sity Hospital, Stony Brook Children's Hospital), the MART Cancer Center,
and the Long Island State Veterans Home ("East Campus") (collectively,
"Stony Brook Campus"). Across the Stony Brook Campus, the University
employs over 15,000 people and educates roughly 26,000 undergraduate and
graduate students.
As one of the State's Flagship Universities and one of the three SUNY
Hospitals, Stony Brook's student enrollment is scheduled to grow signif-
icantly over the next few years. As the University's enrollment grows,
so too does the need to increase the number of faculty and staff to
support academic and research programs. Unfortunately, due to a lack of
student and workforce housing in the area, there is no way to grow with-
out a robust increase in housing options. A lack of housing opportu-
nities has made recruiting students and faculty and retaining the same
increasingly difficult.
The University has developed a plan to lease approximately 17, acres of
underdeveloped land on its West Campus adjacent to the Stony Brook LIRR
station to build multi-purpose facilities to support housing for under-
graduate and graduate students, as well as faculty, staff and medical
residents ("Stony Brook Project"). The Stony Brook Project would provide
up to 1,900 beds, all of which would be exclusively for members of the
Stony Brook University community.
The University is establishing the Stony Brook Housing Development Corp.
("SBHDC") to be the ground lessee, who would ultimately sublease the
project to a developer through an RFP process. The legislation would
also require a project labor agreement for all construction undertaken
to support the Stony Brook Project.
By enabling SUNY to lease the land on its property to the SBHDC, it
would provide a substantial increase in housing opportunities to expand
its enrollment and provide affordable workforce housing options for its
staff.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None to the state.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8070
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 24, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. KASSAY -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Higher Education
AN ACT in relation to authorizing the lease of certain lands for the
purpose of building undergraduate student, graduate student, faculty
and staff housing
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature finds and declares
2 that the state university of New York at Stony Brook ("Stony Brook") is
3 one of the State's flagship universities with hundreds of millions of
4 dollars in federal research, is the region's largest on-site employer,
5 and, through Stony Brook Medicine, is Suffolk County's safety-net
6 provider. Stony Brook consists of two academic campuses, four hospitals,
7 over two hundred clinical outpatient facilities, and the Long Island
8 State Veterans Home. Stony Brook is poised to grow both its student
9 enrollment and its workforce but is limited due to a lack of housing
10 opportunities. In fact, the single greatest issue Stony Brook has across
11 its system in recruiting and retaining students, faculty and staff is
12 the lack of student and workforce housing.
13 The legislature finds that Stony Brook seeks to use approximately 17
14 acres of underutilized land on its Stony Brook campus to build multi-
15 purpose facilities to support housing needs and supporting amenities
16 (including but not limited to food and dining options, parking and
17 fitness centers) for the university's undergraduate and graduate
18 students, as well as junior faculty and certain university employees.
19 It is expected that up to 1,900 beds would be made available for Stony
20 Brook students and employees. By providing more housing options for the
21 Stony Brook community, it will provide greater options for students and
22 faculty with young families to move into the area, and help us retain
23 those students and employees already here but commuting long distances
24 to school and work. The legislature further finds that granting the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11675-01-5
A. 8070 2
1 trustees of the state university of New York ("Trustees") the authority
2 and power to lease and otherwise contract to make available grounds and
3 facilities on Stony Brook's campus will ensure land is utilized for the
4 benefit of Stony Brook, and the surrounding community.
5 § 2. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the state univer-
6 sity trustees are hereby authorized and empowered, without any public
7 bidding, to lease and otherwise contract to make available to the Stony
8 Brook Housing Development Corp. (the "ground lessee"), a portion of the
9 lands of the university on its campus, generally described in this act
10 for the purpose of building undergraduate student, graduate student,
11 faculty and staff housing. Such lease or contract shall be for a period
12 not exceeding 100 years without any fee simple conveyance and otherwise
13 upon terms and conditions determined by such trustees, subject to the
14 approval of the director of the division of the budget, the attorney
15 general and the state comptroller. If the real property that is the
16 subject of such lease or contract shall cease to be used for the purpose
17 described in this act, such lease or contract shall immediately termi-
18 nate, and the real property and any improvements thereon shall revert to
19 the state university of New York. Any lease or contract entered into
20 pursuant to this act shall provide that the real property that is the
21 subject of such lease or contract and any improvements thereon shall
22 revert to the state university of New York on the expiration of such
23 contract or lease.
24 § 3. Any contract or lease entered into pursuant to this act shall be
25 deemed to be a state contract for purposes of article 15-A of the execu-
26 tive law, and any contractor, subcontractor, lessee or sublessee enter-
27 ing into such contract or lease for the construction, demolition, recon-
28 struction, excavation, rehabilitation, repair, renovation, alteration or
29 improvement authorized pursuant to this act shall be deemed a state
30 agency for the purposes of article 15-A of the executive law and subject
31 to the provisions of such article.
32 § 4. Notwithstanding any general, special or local law or judicial
33 decision to the contrary, all work performed on a project authorized by
34 this act where all or any portion thereof involves a lease or agreement
35 for construction, demolition, reconstruction, excavation, rehabili-
36 tation, repair, renovation, alteration or improvement shall be deemed
37 public work and shall be subject to and performed in accordance with the
38 provisions of article 8 of the labor law to the same extent and in the
39 same manner as a contract of the state, and compliance with all the
40 provisions of article 8 of the labor law shall be required of any
41 lessee, sublessee, contractor or subcontractor on the project, including
42 the enforcement of prevailing wage requirements by the fiscal officer as
43 defined in paragraph e of subdivision 5 of section 220 of the labor law
44 to the same extent as a contract of the state.
45 § 5. Notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contrary, the
46 state university of New York shall not contract out to the ground lessee
47 or any subsidiary for the instruction or any pedagogical functions or
48 services, or any administrative services, and similar professional
49 services currently being performed by state employees. All such func-
50 tions and services shall be performed by state employees. Nothing in
51 this act shall result in the displacement of any currently employed
52 state worker or the loss of position (including partial displacement
53 such as reduction in the hours of non-overtime, wages or employment
54 benefits), or result in the impairment of existing contracts for
55 services or collective bargaining rights pursuant to existing agreements
56 as provided under article 14 of the civil service law. All positions
A. 8070 3
1 currently at the state university of New York in the unclassified
2 service and classified service of the civil service law shall not be
3 reclassified as a result of this Act. No pedagogical or other services
4 or work on the property described in this act currently performed by
5 public employees or future work that is similar in scope and nature to
6 the work being currently performed by public employees shall be
7 contracted out or privatized by the state university of New York or by
8 an affiliated entity or associated entity of the state university of New
9 York. All such future work shall be performed by public employees.
10 § 6. For the purposes of this act:
11 (a) "project" shall mean work at the property authorized by this act
12 to be leased to the ground lessee as described in section twelve of this
13 act that involves the design, construction, reconstruction, demolition,
14 excavating, rehabilitation, repair, renovation, alteration or improve-
15 ment of such property.
16 (b) "project labor agreement" shall mean a pre-hire collective
17 bargaining agreement between a contractor and a labor organization,
18 establishing the labor organization as the collective bargaining repre-
19 sentative for all persons who will perform work on the project, and
20 which provides that only contractors and subcontractors who sign a pre-
21 negotiated agreement with the labor organization can perform project
22 work.
23 § 7. Nothing in this act shall be deemed to waive or impair any rights
24 or benefits of employees of the state university of New York that other-
25 wise would be available to them pursuant to the terms of agreements
26 between the certified representatives of such employees and the state of
27 New York pursuant to article 14 of the civil service law; all work
28 performed on such property that ordinarily would be performed by employ-
29 ees subject to article 14 of the civil service law shall continue to be
30 performed by such employees.
31 § 8. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, special, or local
32 law or judicial decision to the contrary, the ground lessee shall
33 require the use of a project labor agreement, as defined in subdivision
34 1 of section 222 of the labor law, for all contractors and subcontrac-
35 tors on the project, consistent with paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of
36 section 222 of the labor law.
37 § 9. Without limiting the determination of the terms and conditions of
38 such contracts or leases, such terms and conditions may provide for
39 leasing, subleasing, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation,
40 improvement, operation and management of and provision of services and
41 assistance and the granting of licenses, easements and other arrange-
42 ments with regard to such grounds and facilities by the ground lessee,
43 and parties contracting with the ground lessee, and in connection with
44 such activities, the obtaining of funding or financing, whether public
45 or private, unsecured or secured, including, but not limited to, secured
46 by leasehold mortgages and assignments of rents and leases, by the
47 ground lessee and parties contracting with the ground lessee for the
48 purposes of completing the project described in this act.
49 § 10. Such lease shall include an indemnity provision whereby the
50 lessee or sublessee promises to indemnify, hold harmless and defend the
51 lessor against all claims, suits, actions, and liability to all persons
52 on the leased premises, including tenant, tenant's agents, contractors,
53 subcontractors, employees, customers, guests, licensees, invitees and
54 members of the public, for damage to any such person's property, whether
55 real or personal, or for personal injuries arising out of tenant's use
56 or occupation of the demised premises.
A. 8070 4
1 § 11. Any contracts entered into pursuant to this act between the
2 ground lessee and parties contracting with the ground lessee shall be
3 awarded by a competitive process.
4 § 12. The property authorized by this act to be leased to the ground
5 lessee is generally described as that parcel of real property with
6 improvements thereon consisting of a total of approximately 16.7217
7 acres of land situated on the campus of the state university of New York
8 at Stony Brook within the town of Brookhaven, county of Suffolk, state
9 of New York more particularly described as follows:
10 Beginning at a point within lot 2 of section 199, block 1 and being on
11 the southerly side of Circle Road, a private road of undesignated width,
12 having New York state plane (LI Zone) 1983 coordinate values of North
13 275669.8546 and East 1225232.3830. The said point being distant 295.88
14 feet on a bearing of North 42 degrees 47 minutes 36 seconds East from
15 the Northeast corner of section 198, block 7, lot 3 now or formerly
16 belonging to the town of Brookhaven as per liber 11011 at page 576, and
17 running from the said point of beginning; thence
18 Running the following nineteen (19) courses through said lot 2.6:
19 1) Following along the said Southerly side of said Circle Road, North
20 30 degrees, 13 minutes, 30 seconds East, a distance of 339.00 feet to a
21 point of curvature; thence
22 2) Following along the same, on a curve to the right having a radius
23 of 3148.50 feet, a central angle of 05 degrees 04 minutes 00 seconds and
24 an arc length of 278.42 feet to a point of non-tangency; thence
25 3) Leaving the said side of Circle Road, South 63 degrees 07 minutes
26 11 seconds East, a distance of 110.00 feet, thence
27 4) south 61 degrees 36 minutes 00 seconds east, a distance of 193.00
28 feet; thence
29 5) south 65 degrees 28 minutes 00 seconds east, a distance of 135.00
30 feet ; thence
31 6) South 61 degrees 17 minutes 00 seconds East a distance of 371.50
32 feet ; thence
33 7) South 28 degrees 43 minutes 00 seconds West a distance of 199.50
34 feet ; thence
35 8) south 07 degrees 38 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 25.00
36 feet to a point of non-tangent curvature; thence
37 9) on a curve to the left having a radius of 160.00 feet, a central
38 angle of 64 degrees 09 minutes 42 seconds and an arc length of 179.17
39 feet, the chord of which bears south 40 degrees 33 minutes 51 seconds
40 West for a distance of 169.66 feet to a point of tangency; thence
41 10) south 08 degrees 29 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 384.000
42 feet; thence
43 11) North 82 degrees 34 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 35.50
44 feet to a point of curvature; thence
45 12) on a curve to the left having a radius of 75.00 feet, a central
46 angle of 90 degrees 07 minutes 00 seconds, and an arc length of 117.96
47 feet to a point of tangency; thence
48 13) south 07 degrees 19 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 113.15
49 feet; thence
50 14) North 79 degrees 46 minutes 00 seconds West, a distance of 255.50
51 feet ; thence
52 15) North 37 degrees 39 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 42.50
53 feet; thence
54 16) North 06 degrees 38 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 104.50
55 feet to a point of curvature; thence
A. 8070 5
1 17) on a curve to the left having a radius of 230.00 feet, a central
2 angle of 30 degrees 52 minutes 00 seconds, and an arc length of 123.91
3 feet to a point of tangency; thence
4 18) north 37 degrees 30 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 412.80
5 feet; thence
6 19) North 25 degrees 35 minutes 00 seconds West, a distance of 118.00
7 feet to the point and place of Beginning.
8 The above-described lease area contains 728,396 square feet or 16.7217
9 acres of land.
10 The above-described development area was written in accordance with a
11 map entitled, "Boundary & Location Survey, District 200, section 199,
12 block 1, Part of Lot 2.6, at, Stony Brook University, Hamlet of Stony-
13 brook, town of Brookhaven, Suffolk county, state of New York" prepared
14 by Gallas Surveying Group.
15 § 13. The state university of New York shall not lease lands described
16 in this act unless any such lease shall be executed within 5 years of
17 the effective date of this act.
18 § 14. Insofar as the provisions of this act are inconsistent with the
19 provisions of any law, general, special or local, the provisions of this
20 act shall be controlling.
21 § 15. This act shall take effect immediately.
