Hostos Community College Expands its Campus into the Historic Bronx General Post Office Building

On September 3, Hostos Community College unveiled a major expansion of its campus in the South Bronx. Hostos President Dr. Daisy Cocco De Filippis was delighted to welcome NYC Mayor Eric Adams, CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Council Member Rafael Salamanca and other VIPs to celebrate that the College will be moving into the historic Bronx General Post Office Building to grow its highly successful Allied Health and Nursing programs, create additional labs for its Natural Sciences courses and support the creation of new academic programs. Sitting adjacent to the campus at 558 Grand Concourse and 149th St., the stately building dates back to 1935 and is on the National Register of Historic Places, while its facade and interior are NYC Designated Landmarks.
   
The event took place in the ornate lobby of the building, where hundreds of Hostos students, faculty and staff mingled with elected officials and CUNY leaders while a salsa band played. The air was electric with the excitement of dozens of Allied Health  students, identifiable by their scrubs, inspecting their future home, and the entire Student Government Association leadership observing their City Hall counterparts.
 
The proceedings began with opening remarks from Hostos Student Steven Martinez, a Mechanical Engineering major graduating in 2026. “Every day, new students apply to STEM programs, and it shouldn’t only be Harvard or MIT students who get to make a difference. We at Hostos are part of diverse communities where real change can occur today. These are trying times, and many of us fear the future. But the future is here, in this building, with young scientists who can change not just this city but the world for the better.”
   
“If it’s good enough for Cornell, it should be good enough for CUNY,” said Mayor Adams. “There’s no reason our CUNY schools shouldn’t have the same level of resources and access to hands-on learning as their peers across the nation, and our administration is proud to help make that happen. Today, we are helping CUNY develop further into a world-class institution with the announcement of a brand new life sciences facility at Hostos Community College in the Bronx, which will feature modern instructional labs, classrooms, and student spaces, and serve up to 5,000 students per year. Building on our ‘Best Budget Ever,’ we are investing over $12 million more annually in Hostos to support the College’s growth, expand high-demand programs, and replace outdated labs — all which will drive enrollment, create demand for additional faculty, and give our students the skills they need to enter high-demand careers.”
 
The new building will allow Hostos to expand some of its most in-demand programs, including Nursing, Radiologic Technology, Dental Hygiene, and Engineering. These programs provide students with valuable pathways to economic mobility and job security, especially in the Bronx, which is home to four major hospitals offering numerous job opportunities for healthcare graduates. And many Hostos alumni choose to remain in the Bronx and New York City, where they apply the education and training they receive to contribute to and give back to their communities.
   
“Repurposing the historic Bronx General Post Office into a center for learning and discovery shows how we’re reimagining space to empower our Bronx scholars,” said Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson. “In these new labs and classrooms, students will gain the hands-on training they need to enter careers in health and science that are not only high-demand, but life-sustaining for their families.This means more nurses, radiology technicians, dental hygienists, and soon, new programs in surgical nursing, occupational therapy, surgical technology, and home health care. I want to thank Mayor Eric Adams, CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez, Hostos President Dr. Daisy Cocco De Filippis, and the Maddd Equities team for their investment in our scholars and our Borough.”
 
Hostos has already identified several new programs that can be offered once the facilities are ready: Surgical Nursing, Surgical Technology, Occupational Therapy, and Home Health Care. Plus, Engineering and Science students training in new state-of-the-art labs would have an edge in a very competitive job market.
 
CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez and Executive Vice Chancellor and COO Hector Batista, who helped secure the property for Hostos, were also on hand to help make the announcement.
 
“The transformation of the historic Bronx Central Post Office into a state-of-the art science facility for Hostos Community College is the realization of a decade-long ambition shared by the Bronx and Hostos communities,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “With more space, we will double the number of students eligible for meaningful careers as medical professionals, creating more avenues to New York's thriving healthcare industry and improving access to health services for communities throughout the Bronx. I want to thank Mayor Adams and the City Council for giving this storied building a new lease on life while honoring its identity as a public good.”
   
The building itself is three stories high and occupies an entire city block with about 170,000 square feet of interior space. It was designed by Thomas Harlan Ellett, who described it as being in a “contemporary Georgian style.” The facade on the Grand Concourse features two sculptures flanking the main entrance: “The Letter” by Henry Kreis and “Noah” by Charles Rudy. In the main lobby there are thirteen murals, painted in 1939 by Ben Shahn and his wife Bernarda Bryson, titled “The Resources of America,” depicting scenes of various workers in industry and agriculture. The murals were inspired by the words of the American poet Walt Whitman, whose poems often celebrated the dignity of work and the American worker. The largest mural shows Whitman addressing workers and their families while pointing to his poem about democracy, “As I Walk These Broad, Majestic Days.”
   
This focus on American workers is fitting, given Hostos Community College’s mission to foster socio-economic mobility through education. Operating in the heart of the poorest congressional district in the nation, Hostos prepares students for family-sustaining careers, creating opportunities for advancement in a community that has historically been underserved.
 
“Today is a great day for Hostos and for our students. We have been planning for years to build a new Allied Health Building to meet the increasing needs of our community, as more and more students are enrolling in pursuit of careers in healthcare and various STEM fields,” said President Cocco De Filippis. “We are so excited to start renovating the building, developing new programs and creating new opportunities for our students to progress socioeconomically. Mil gracias to the Mayor, to CUNY, and to Maddd Equities/BPO Owner for making this possible.”
   
The building was purchased by Maddd Equities and leased to CUNY with the intent that it becomes part of the Hostos Community College campus. Jorge Madruga, Founder and CEO of Maddd Equities and Partner in BPO Owner, has been a generous supporter of the College over the years, and this transformative real estate deal is another demonstration of his belief in the College and its vital role in the community.
 
“I have been working with Hostos for nearly a decade, and I am truly proud to have played a role in making this program and building a reality for Hostos and CUNY,” said Jorge Madruga. “Bringing a revered Bronx institution like Hostos Community College into the Bronx General Post Office reflects our long-term vision to revitalize this historic landmark for the benefit of the community. We are honored to house their new life sciences facility here, which will open doors for more students to pursue critical education opportunities and higher paying jobs. I want to thank Mayor Adams and CUNY for their support in shaping the future of this important project, and everyone involved in making it a reality.”
   
The Bronx Post Office building will require extensive interior renovations and retro-fitting before the College can move in. Construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2026, with the program slated for opening in the fall of 2028.