School searching for home.

Newly established SUNY school, the Neil D. Levin Graduate Institute of International Relations and Commerce, is searching for between 25K-40K s/f of eastside space that would put it in proximity to the United Nations--an organization whose operations are related to the Levin School's planned blend of international and business coursework.

Newmark broker, John Lizzul, is handling the search and said that, be sides a far-east locale, potential spaces will not be contained to any particular neighborhood so as to widen the number of possible locations that meet the school's relatively stringent requirements.

The Levin School would like to be the sole occupant of a small building. And while the school hopes to purchase such property, Lizzul indicated that it would settle for either buying or leasing lower, or ideally, ground floor space in a bigger property if the opportunity arose. Proper stairwell dimensions--22 inches of width per 60 occupants on a floor--are a key factor in the search and Lizzul indicated that ground floor retail space would give the school more flexibility in accommodating city code by allowing for the construction of additional stairways.

The school, which isn't up and running yet but has administrative offices at 33 West 42nd Street in the SUNY Optometry building, is prepared to shell out anywhere between $400-$1,000 a foot, depending on the property, and could rent within the broad range of $20-$50 per s/f. Another option the Levin School has considered, albeit with some trepidation, is to purchase a larger building and lease the surplus space.

"They don't want to get into the business of leasing space," Lizzul said. "But if there's a great opportunity and it's only a few extra floors I think at this point they would do it. If it was something like 20 extra floors there's no way they'd get involved in a deal like that."

In recent years, Lizzul found 18.5K s/f of space for SUNY Stony Brook at 401 Park Avenue South in 2001.