James Stuckey - Developer and Former Economic Development Official - Is New Leader of NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate

The New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS) today announced the appointment of James P. Stuckey as divisional dean of the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate, the University’s home for graduate and continuing professional education and applied research in real estate, construction management, and related fields. 

Throughout his 30-plus-year career as a public official and real estate executive, Stuckey has led some of the most complex and storied development in recent New York City history, including Forest City Ratner Company’s Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.

"Jim Stuckey is an exemplary leader," said NYU-SCPS Dean Robert Lapiner. “His lifetime of significant achievement in real estate and regional economic development, in construction management, and urban design seamlessly combined with his lifelong engagement with teaching, public service, and community life embody the academic mission, professional values, and ambitions we have for the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate.  On behalf of our entire School community, I am truly elated he will be lending his energy, intellect, and vision to the Institute and our University.”

As of September 2009, Stuckey will assume his new post as head of the Schack Institute, as well become the new holder of the endowed Klara and Larry Silverstein Chair in Real Estate Development.  He succeeds clinical professor D. Kenneth Patton, who steps down as divisional dean and Silverstein Chair this fall, after eleven years of outstanding contributions to the vitality and reputation of the Institute.

At just the age of 32, Stuckey was appointed president of the NYC Public Development Corporation (now the Economic Development Corporation) by Mayor Edward Koch. In that role he oversaw more than $15 billion of commercial, industrial, and waterfront development, including the MetroTech Center, the Times Square Redevelopment, and South Street Seaport projects. He also ran the City's 16 industrial and office parks and is credited with creating or retaining 100,000 jobs within New York City.

Stuckey then moved into the private sector, first at Gronich & Company, overseeing real estate development and advisory services. While there, his work creating the Russian Trade and Cultural Center at the World Trade Center won the Real Estate Board of New York's "Most Ingenious Deal of the Year Award" in 1991. He then served as executive vice president with Forest City Ratner for 14 years.  He most notably headed the firm's $4 billion Atlantic Yards development—a planned basketball arena, housing, and over 600,000 square feet of commercial space—in central Brooklyn, as well as 15 MetroTech South (the first U.S. office building built after September 11th), the 330 Jay Street courthouse complex, the NY Mercantile Exchange headquarters, and the 460-room Times Square Hilton, among many others. He is currently president of the NYC Public Design Commission, appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2004.

“Jim Stuckey will elevate the entire NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate to a new level and raise the master’s in real estate development, and all its other programs, to positions of pre-eminence in the country,” said James D. Kuhn, president of Newmark Knight Frank and chairman of the Institute’s Advisory Board, who chaired the search committee.

The NYU Schack Institute was founded in 1967, at the initiative of prominent real estate leaders who encouraged NYU to develop an academic center to strengthen the educational underpinnings of professionals within their industry. Today, the Schack Institute is home to graduate degree and related graduate certificate programs—notably the M.S. in Real Estate and the M.S. in Construction Management, enrolling some 700 full and part-time students from more than 30 countries, and boasting nearly 2,500 alumni degree-holders across the globe.    In addition, each year approximately 7,200 working professionals enroll in the Institute's certificate programs, non-credit courses, and licensure-related offerings in such areas as real estate finance, sales and brokerage, sustainable design, facilities management, and architecture and civil engineering.  The Institute also houses the NYU REIT Center and hosts key industry events, including annual conferences on Real Estate Capital Markets and REITs.

The Institute is named in honor of the Schack family, multi-generation New York real estate developers and owners whose transformative gift of $10 million in 2008 is providing the Institute with dedicated resources to enhance its academic programs, increase resources for students and faculty, and improve its physical infrastructure. 

"I am excited and humbled by my appointment and thank both Dean Lapiner and the Institute's Advisory Board for their confidence in me and their commitment to the continued growth of one the nation's most prestigious centers of professional education in real estate and construction management," said Stuckey.  "Today, the real estate industry confronts significant opportunities and challenges on the local, national, and international levels.   I fully expect the Schack Institute to continue its leading role in shaping the programs, conducting the applied research, and preparing the future leaders necessary to tackle these critical issues."

James Stuckey received his bachelor's in business and psychology and master's in psychology, with honors, from St. John's University.  In 2002, he completed a second master's degree in Sacred Scripture from St. Joseph Seminary’s Institute for Religious Studies. He is a recipient of both the Pietas and President’s Medals from St. John’s University and currently serves as a member of its Board of Trustees.

Although he will commence his teaching within the Institute later this academic year, he has been serving as an adjunct faculty member at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service since 2008.  Professor Stuckey has lectured and/or taught at Harvard, St. John's, Yale and Columbia Universities, John Jay College, and Pratt Institute. Among his many philanthropic and public service endeavors, he has served as chairman of the board for the Center Against Domestic Violence, and as a governor on the Real Estate Board of New York.  He is a current or past board member of the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, the NYC Transit Museum, the Caron Foundation New York, the Young Presidents' Organization, National Trust for Historic Preservation, National Association of Corporate Real Estate Executives, the Urban Land Institute, and the Council on Urban Economic Development. He also served as vice chairman of Community Board 2 in Staten Island and as a trustee of the Jacques Marquis Center of Tibetan Art.