March 24, 2000

Cooper Union Turns to Its Real Estate to Avoid Having to Charge Tuition

After years of deficits, trustees wheel and deal to make the most of a boom in New York City

By Martin Van Der Werf

This parking lot in the East Village is not the center of the American economic boom. But you can see it from here.

Crane your neck, and the top of the World Trade Center towers comes into view, the golden glint of Wall Street in the foreground. Turn around and not too far away are the beginnings of Broadway and Madison Avenue.

This area, however, has been an orphan, unloved by Big Money. Its tenements and brownstones, surrounding the occasional pizza parlor and Asian grocery,