S 7616: 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.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7616 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE April 23, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. MARTINEZ -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT in relation to establishing the Stony brook campus housing ground lease 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. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD11766-01-5 
 S. 7616 2 1 The legislature further finds that granting the trustees of the state 2 university of New York ("Trustees") the authority and power to lease and 3 otherwise contract to make available grounds and facilities on Stony 4 Brook's campus will ensure land is utilized for the benefit of Stony 5 Brook, and the surrounding community. 6 § 2. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the state univer- 7 sity trustees are hereby authorized and empowered, without any public 8 bidding, to lease and otherwise contract to make available to the Stony 9 Brook Housing Development Corp. (the "ground lessee"), a portion of the 10 lands of the university on its campus, generally described in this act 11 for the purpose of building undergraduate student, graduate student, 12 faculty and staff housing. Such lease or contract shall be for a period 13 not exceeding 100 years without any fee simple conveyance and otherwise 14 upon terms and conditions determined by such trustees, subject to the 15 approval of the director of the division of the budget, the attorney 16 general and the state comptroller. If the real property that is the 17 subject of such lease or contract shall cease to be used for the purpose 18 described in this act, such lease or contract shall immediately termi- 19 nate, and the real property and any improvements thereon shall revert to 20 the state university of New York. Any lease or contract entered into 21 pursuant to this act shall provide that the real property that is the 22 subject of such lease or contract and any improvements thereon shall 23 revert to the state university of New York on the expiration of such 24 contract or lease. 25 § 3. Any contract or lease entered into pursuant to this act shall be 26 deemed to be a state contract for purposes of article 15-A of the execu- 27 tive law, and any contractor, subcontractor, lessee or sublessee enter- 28 ing into such contract or lease for the construction, demolition, recon- 29 struction, excavation, rehabilitation, repair, renovation, alteration or 30 improvement authorized pursuant to this act shall be deemed a state 31 agency for the purposes of article 15-A of the executive law and subject 32 to the provisions of such article. 33 § 4. Notwithstanding any general, special or local law or judicial 34 decision to the contrary, all work performed on a project authorized by 35 this act where all or any portion thereof involves a lease or agreement 36 for construction, demolition, reconstruction, excavation, rehabili- 37 tation, repair, renovation, alteration or improvement shall be deemed 38 public work and shall be subject to and performed in accordance with the 39 provisions of article 8 of the labor law to the same extent and in the 40 same manner as a contract of the state, and compliance with all the 41 provisions of article 8 of the labor law shall be required of any 42 lessee, sublessee, contractor or subcontractor on the project, including 43 the enforcement of prevailing wage requirements by the fiscal officer as 44 defined in paragraph e of subdivision 5 of section 220 of the labor law 45 to the same extent as a contract of the state. 46 § 5. Notwithstanding any law, rule or regulation to the contrary, the 47 state university of New York shall not contract out to the ground lessee 48 or any subsidiary for the instruction or any pedagogical functions or 49 services, or any administrative services, and similar professional 50 services currently being performed by state employees. All such func- 51 tions and services shall be performed by state employees. Nothing in 52 this act shall result in the displacement of any currently employed 53 state worker or the loss of position (including partial displacement 54 such as reduction in the hours of non-overtime, wages or employment 55 benefits), or result in the impairment of existing contracts for 56 services or collective bargaining rights pursuant to existing agreements 
 S. 7616 3 1 as provided under article 14 of the civil service law. All positions 2 currently at the state university of New York in the unclassified 3 service and classified service of the civil service law shall not be 4 reclassified as a result of this act. No pedagogical or other services 5 or work on the property described in this act currently performed by 6 public employees or future work that is similar in scope and nature to 7 the work being currently performed by public employees shall be 8 contracted out or privatized by the state university of New York or by 9 an affiliated entity or associated entity of the state university of New 10 York. All such future work shall be performed by public employees. 11 § 6. For the purposes of this act: 12 (a) "project" shall mean work at the property authorized by this act 13 to be leased to the ground lessee as described in section twelve of this 14 act that involves the design, construction, reconstruction, demolition, 15 excavation, rehabilitation, repair, renovation, alteration or improve- 16 ment of such property. 17 (b) "project labor agreement" shall mean a pre-hire collective 18 bargaining agreement between a contractor and a labor organization, 19 establishing the labor organization as the collective bargaining repre- 20 sentative for all persons who will perform work on the project, and 21 which provides that only contractors and subcontractors who sign a pre- 22 negotiated agreement with the labor organization can perform project 23 work. 24 § 7. Nothing in this act shall be deemed to waive or impair any rights 25 or benefits of employees of the state university of New York that other- 26 wise would be available to them pursuant to the terms of agreements 27 between the certified representatives of such employees and the state of 28 New York pursuant to article 14 of the civil service law; all work 29 performed on such property that ordinarily would be performed by employ- 30 ees subject to article 14 of the civil service law shall continue to be 31 performed by such employees. 32 § 8. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, special, or local 33 law or judicial decision to the contrary, the ground lessee shall 34 require the use of a project labor agreement, as defined in subdivision 35 1 of section 222 of the labor law, for all contractors and subcontrac- 36 tors on the project, consistent with paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of 37 section 222 of the labor law. 38 § 9. Without limiting the determination of the terms and conditions of 39 such contracts or leases, such terms and conditions may provide for 40 leasing, subleasing, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, 41 improvement, operation and management of and provision of services and 42 assistance and the granting of licenses, easements and other arrange- 43 ments with regard to such grounds and facilities by the ground lessee, 44 and parties contracting with the ground lessee, and in connection with 45 such activities, the obtaining of funding or financing, whether public 46 or private, unsecured or secured, including, but not limited to, secured 47 by leasehold mortgages and assignments of rents and leases, by the 48 ground lessee and parties contracting with the ground lessee for the 49 purposes of completing the project described in this act. 50 § 10. Such lease shall include an indemnity provision whereby the 51 lessee or sublessee promises to indemnify, hold harmless and defend the 52 lessor against all claims, suits, actions, and liability to all persons 53 on the leased premises, including tenant, tenant's agents, contractors, 54 subcontractors, employees, customers, guests, licensees, invitees and 55 members of the public, for damage to any such person's property, whether 
 S. 7616 4 1 real or personal, or for personal injuries arising out of tenant's use 2 or occupation of the demised premises. 3 § 11. Any contracts entered into pursuant to this act between the 4 ground lessee and parties contracting with the ground lessee shall be 5 awarded by a competitive process. 6 § 12. The property authorized by this act to be leased to the ground 7 lessee is generally described as that parcel of real property with 8 improvements thereon consisting of a total of approximately 16.7217 9 acres of land situated on the campus of the state university of New York 10 at Stony Brook within the town of Brookhaven, county of Suffolk, state 11 of New York more particularly described as follows: 12 Beginning at a point within lot 2 of section 199, block 1 and being on 13 the southerly side of Circle Road, a private road of undesignated width, 14 having New York state plane (LI Zone) 1983 coordinate values of North 15 275669.8546 and East 1225232.3830. The said point being distant 295.88 16 feet on a bearing of North 42 degrees 47 minutes 36 seconds East from 17 the Northeast corner of section 198, block 7, lot 3 now or formerly 18 belonging to the town of Brookhaven as per liber 11011 at page 576, and 19 running from the said point of beginning; thence 20 Running the following nineteen (19) courses through said lot 2.6: 21 1) Following along the said Southerly side of said Circle Road, North 22 30 degrees, 13 minutes, 30 seconds East, a distance of 339.00 feet to a 23 point of curvature; thence 24 2) Following along the same, on a curve to the right having a radius 25 of 3148.50 feet, a central angle of 05 degrees 04 minutes 00 seconds and 26 an arc length of 278.42 feet to a point of non-tangency; thence 27 3) Leaving the said side of Circle Road, South 63 degrees 07 minutes 28 11 seconds East, a distance of 110.00 feet, thence 29 4) south 61 degrees 36 minutes 00 seconds east, a distance of 193.00 30 feet; thence 31 5) south 65 degrees 28 minutes 00 seconds east, a distance of 135.00 32 feet ; thence 33 6) South 61 degrees 17 minutes 00 seconds East a distance of 371.50 34 feet ; thence 35 7) South 28 degrees 43 minutes 00 seconds West a distance of 199.50 36 feet ; thence 37 8) south 07 degrees 38 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 25.00 38 feet to a point of non-tangent curvature; thence 39 9) on a curve to the left having a radius of 160.00 feet, a central 40 angle of 64 degrees 09 minutes 42 seconds and an arc length of 179.17 41 feet, the chord of which bears south 40 degrees 33 minutes 51 seconds 42 West for a distance of 169.66 feet to a point of tangency; thence 43 10) south 08 degrees 29 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 384.000 44 feet; thence 45 11) North 82 degrees 34 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 35.50 46 feet to a point of curvature; thence 47 12) on a curve to the left having a radius of 75.00 feet, a central 48 angle of 90 degrees 07 minutes 00 seconds, and an arc length of 117.96 49 feet to a point of tangency; thence 50 13) south 07 degrees 19 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 113.15 51 feet; thence 52 14) North 79 degrees 46 minutes 00 seconds West, a distance of 255.50 53 feet ; thence 54 15) North 37 degrees 39 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 42.50 55 feet; thence 
 S. 7616 5 1 16) North 06 degrees 38 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 104.50 2 feet to a point of curvature; thence 3 17) on a curve to the left having a radius of 230.00 feet, a central 4 angle of 30 degrees 52 minutes 00 seconds, and an arc length of 123.91 5 feet to a point of tangency; thence 6 18) north 37 degrees 30 minutes 00 seconds west, a distance of 412.80 7 feet; thence 8 19) North 25 degrees 35 minutes 00 seconds West, a distance of 118.00 9 feet to the point and place of Beginning. 10 The above-described lease area contains 728,396 square feet or 16.7217 11 acres of land. 12 The above-described development area was written in accordance with a 13 map entitled, "Boundary & Location Survey, District 200, section 199, 14 block 1, Part of Lot 2.6, at, Stony Brook University, Hamlet of Stony- 15 brook, town of Brookhaven, Suffolk county, state of New York" prepared 16 by Gallas Surveying Group. 17 § 13. The state university of New York shall not lease lands described 18 in this act unless any such lease shall be executed within 5 years of 19 the effective date of this act. 20 § 14. Insofar as the provisions of this act are inconsistent with the 21 provisions of any law, general, special or local, the provisions of this 22 act shall be controlling. 23 § 15. This act shall take effect immediately.