Hunter students are looking to FOUND Study in the Midtown East neighborhood as the next best housing alternative, facing the imminent demolition of the Brookdale dormitory.
The 20-floor building located on East 51st Street and Lexington Avenue is the newest addition to Hunter’s student residence options and a short distance from campus. It’s two stops downtown on the 6 train and 20 minutes by foot. It provides housing for various other institutions, including Baruch College, Pace University and LIM College.
Currently, Hunter students only occupy the sixth floor, but there is a possibility that the college will allocate more dormitories at FOUND Study in response to Brookdale’s demolition and May 2025 closure.
“They’re in discussion to see if they can have a contract to get more floors, but I don’t know if anything official is going on,” said Resident Advisor (RA) and Hunter pre-med student Milan Mueller.
The cost per academic year to live at the Brookdale residence starts as low as $6,455, depending on room type. The rates for FOUND Study are up to twice that amount, ranging from about $12,350 to $13,000 for the 2023-2024 academic year. For the upcoming academic year, the prices are set to increase to a range of $13,800 to $14,500 according to the latest Hunter housing application and FOUND Study website.
“It’s reasonable considering it is in the city,” said Hunter freshman and athlete Isabella Moseley. “It’s basically an apartment.”
Video tour provided by FOUND Study of rooms and other amenities available on and near the building.
Hunter offers standard double and deluxe double rooms at Midtown East. Both are furnished with two twin XL size beds, two dressers, a closet, two desks and chairs, and an ensuite bathroom, but the deluxe double comes with a kitchenette.
One of the reasons psychology major Chloe Schillio applied to the Midtown East dorms was that it’s cheaper than Hunter’s Apartments on East 79th Street, where she lived last year. The Apartments are Hunter’s most expensive housing option as of 2023, with prices ranging from about $14,580 to $16,490 per academic year, depending on apartment type.
“It’s a better quality place for less money,” said Schillio. “When you walk in the lobby, you feel like you’re in a hotel.”
Before the residence officially opened in August 2022, the building was a Hilton DoubleTree Metropolitan Hotel for about nine years until it closed indefinitely in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
FOUND Study building manager Josh Stanavage confirms that there are plans to expand housing, but he doesn’t “know what that’s going to look like right, and I don’t think they do either.”
Stanavage is the primary liaison between FOUND Study and the different school leasing rooms. He said he’s become familiar with the vulnerabilities that arise with this vintage building constructed in the 1960s.
“Limitations in our HVAC has been one of the biggest feedbacks we’ve gotten, but that’s just something we can’t really do anything about,” said Stanavage.
Another issue affecting residents is that the key cards are prone to malfunctioning.
There are “a lot of issues with the key cards because it’s an older system,” said RA and Hunter student Lia Perry. “A lot of the time, they are faulty.”
RA’s stationed at the front desk help to re-encode the defective key cards and are crucial sources of information for students. Residents also have access to 24-hour maintenance services.
Other amenities at FOUND Study include a communal kitchen, game room, library, classroom, lounge, gym, laundry room and a newly opened rooftop lounge. There is also 24/7 security in the building and an NYPD precinct station around the corner on East 51st Street.
The newly opened rooftop lounge (left), also known as the “Sky Lounge,” and the communal kitchen (right). (Photo Credit: Sabrina Rosado)
FOUND provides a rental service called TULU which has stations located in the building. The stations, whose services are controlled by the TULU app, offers options to rent everyday room essentials such as vacuums, steamers, and while not vital, electric scooters. The app also provides printing services, as well as a variety of purchasable products like food and laundry products.
“[Living at FOUND] expanded my interest of wanting to explore the city more,” said Schillio. “I know that when I come back, I feel safe in this building.”
Applications for dorming at Midtown East and other Hunter housing locations are currently available through Hunter’s Residence Life Program.
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