Which university located in New York City is the biggest real estate holder? Hint, hint. It’s not Cooper Union. New York City’s biggest university real estate holder is Columbia University. That’s right. As reports Eddie Small for “The Real Deal” in a piece entitled “Cracking the university real estate code,” Columbia University has more real estate holdings in New York City than New York University. NYU takes second in this particular college ranking. Columbia has 232 properties across New York City. Can you imagine having to clean all those bookshelves…and underneath the sofas? Oy vey is right. The university’s 232 properties are comprised of 14.88 million square feet. To put things in perspective, a very nicely sized one bedroom in Manhattan is about 800 square feet. Columbia’s got 14.88 million square feet. And NYU? The school has 110 properties in New York City, comprised of 12.78 million square feet. By our arithmetic, this means that Columbia’s got a whole lot more properties than NYU but of the properties that NYU does have, they tend to be bigger on average than its Ivy League counterpart.

It’s Columbia, NYU, and All the Rest

After Columbia and NYU, Fordham University comes in as the third largest university real estate holder in New York City. Fordham has 21 properties comprised of 3.25 million square feet. It all seems a whole lot more manageable as compared to Columbia and NYU, right? St. John’s comes in at #4. The alma mater of Chris Mullin and Mark Jackson boasts 43 properties comprised of 2.67 million square feet. After St. John’s comes Cornell University. Cornell, with a main campus in Ithaca, New York, boasts 16 properties in New York City (hello Weill Cornell Medicine!) comprised of 2.58 million square feet. After Cornell, it’s Yeshiva University with 52 properties comprised of 2.56 million square feet. Rockefeller University comes next with 25 properties comprised of 2.26 million square feet. Pratt Institute follows on Rockefeller University’s heels with 28 properties comprised of 1.75 million square feet. Manhattan College comes next with 14 properties comprised of 1.26 million square feet. Ranking tenth is Barnard College with 8 properties and 1.19 million square feet.

Do these figures surprise you? Did you think New York University was the biggest university real estate holder in New York City rather than Columbia University? Are you surprised that Yeshiva University is such a big real estate holder in the city? Let us know your thoughts, your questions, and the square footage of your home to put everything into perspective (we kid!) by posting a Comment below. We look forward to hearing from you.