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Governors Island is awash in ideas for a new climate research hub on the New York Harbor haven 鈥� including from influential former deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff and several major universities.

Doctoroff, who served as development czar under Mike Bloomberg, is among 37 individuals and groups who delivered 12 separate proposals to the Trust for Governors Island. The Trust, which issued for ideas to anchor a climate center on the 172-acre strip of land, announced the list on Wednesday.

The proposed science center is among in the works for Governors Island, as THE CITY reported last November. The City Council approved major land use changes for the isle .

Doctoroff is making a bid for the climate project through Sustainable Development Commons, a nonprofit he founded just this month, state records show. The group will be led by Josh Sirefman, another Bloomberg administration alum who helped craft Cornell University鈥檚 winning bid for its technology-focused Roosevelt Island campus.

Both men are co-founders of Sidewalk Labs, the urban technology company backed by Google鈥檚 parent company, Alphabet which served as a technical advisor on the proposal, a spokesperson for Doctoroff said. But the pair say they are pursuing the Governors Island venture independently from Sidewalk.

Doctoroff, who was responsible for Hudson Yards and other megaprojects, has long been directly involved in the planning and stewardship of Governors Island.

He oversaw its early redevelopment begun in the late 2000s, after the U.S. Coast Guard handed the land and its historic buildings to the city.

Doctoroff served as vice chair of the now-defunct Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, the precursor to the current day Trust, which was formed in 2010.

The Trust is currently chaired by former deputy mayor Alicia Glen, who served in the development czar role under Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Casting a World-Wide Net

The Trust declined to provide more details about the 12 proposals it received for the climate hub. But THE CITY spoke to backers of three of those dozen, including a team from Stony Brook University.

The Long Island institution is collaborating with Oxford, Yale, Stanford and Columbia universities as well as the energy research center at Brookhaven National Laboratory to create the 鈥淣ew York Climate Exchange,鈥� says. The project will be a 鈥渓iving laboratory鈥� on the island with labs, classrooms, exhibits, greenhouses and housing, the document reads.

Stony Brook promises it can bring in up to $100 million in philanthropic support to fund the project, adding to $150 million the Trust and city have already committed toward the climate hub.

A coalition dubbed Renewable Nations L3C submitted a that brings together design and development experts with 15 universities to create a new academic institution on the island.

Academic institutions from Boise, Idaho, to Okinawa, Japan, have signed on, and Goldman Sachs is a financial backer, according to Lesley Braxton, a principal at Trahan Architects and one of the main strategists behind the plan.

She said utilizing the island鈥檚 existing 19th and 20th century-era structures is a priority for the group, which plans to work with Cross Street Partners, a development company that specializes in adaptive reuse.

鈥淭he most sustainable building is the one you don鈥檛 have to build,鈥� she noted.

The not-yet-built climate hub is expected to use about a fifth, or 33 acres, of Governors Island鈥檚 land mass.

Amy Chester, the managing director of Rebuild By Design, a city-based nonprofit that focuses on sustainable and resilient architecture but is not involved with any of climate center proposals, was impressed with the list of respondents.

She cited the 鈥渄eep expertise鈥� of Deltares, a top water-engineering firm from the Netherlands that has done resiliency work in New York and globally.

Attracting Intelligence

As with Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island, Chester said 鈥渃reating excitement around an academic center is good for New York City.鈥�

鈥淚t attracts businesses here. It attracts jobs. It creates new educational opportunities and homegrown expertise, which the government and New Yorkers can tap into,鈥� she said.

Still, she has her doubts about how the project will fare on a low-lying island in New York Harbor, especially as many parts of the city struggle with preparing for more extreme weather.

鈥淲hat the city is going to need to do is invest a lot of money in the infrastructure to make this happen, and to do it in a way that鈥檚 going to think about future climate events,鈥�  Chester said.

鈥淭he city is going to be tugged in many different directions to address the immediate needs like what we saw during Hurricane Ida. But a real plan is one that takes a step back and really thinks comprehensively.鈥�

Braxton said the Governors Island project 鈥渋s not to detract鈥� from any of efforts to make New York resilient, but to 鈥渉elp with the how.鈥�

鈥淲e have to fix the infrastructure of our cities. But can we do that smarter? And we鈥檙e here to figure out how we can do that,鈥� she said.

The timeline and feasibility of the climate center is still up in the air. The concept will need the backing of New York鈥檚 next mayor. Both the Democratic and Republican mayoral candidates have said little about the climate center idea on the campaign trail.

Representatives of Eric Adams and Curtis Sliwa did not respond to inquiries from THE CITY Wednesday.

It鈥檚 unclear when a winning proposal will be chosen. A spokesperson from the Trust for Governors Island said only that the group will evaluate the climate center propositions in the coming weeks with the Mayor鈥檚 Office of Climate and Sustainability as well as the Mayor鈥檚 Office of Resiliency and the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

鈥淭hese applicants all bring unique qualifications and specialties to the table, and we look forward to finding the perfect fit for this bold step to tackle the climate crisis,鈥� de Blasio said In a statement announcing the proposals Wednesday.

THE CITY is an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.

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