A Insight To Background
MetroTech was the vision of Dr. George Bugliarello, a former president of Polytechnic University. Dr. Bugliarello wanted to build a Silicon Valley-like technology park that would attract companies and serve as a real-world laboratory for faculty and students.
George Bugliarello, born on May 20, 1927, in Trieste, Italy, completed his engineering studies at the University of Padua, graduating in 1951. As president of the Polytechnic Institute of New York, he was instrumental in the creation of MetroTech. In 1975, Dr. Bugliarello initially envisioned an urban research park in Brooklyn, integrating business and education. This vision materialized as MetroTech, a 4.7 million square feet development, which was finalized in 1990. Its early tenants included prominent entities such as Chase Manhattan Bank, Brooklyn Union Gas, and the Securities Industry Automation Corporation.
"In 1973, George Bugliarello was initially offered his position but turned it down, not due to concerns about the school's faculty, financial health, or academic status, but rather because of the urban decay surrounding the campus. Expressing his disbelief, Dr. Bugliarello commented, 'I could not believe that a great university could exist amid such terrible deterioration,' while gesturing towards the four bleak blocks just south of the campus, which were on the verge of being demolished."