Upstairs from the diner made famous by “Seinfeld,” teams of NASA scientists have spent nearly six decades expanding human knowledge about Earth’s climate and the atmospheres of other planets.
But now, those researchers are about to be displaced to an uncertain future.
NASA has told the more than 100 people who work at its Goddard Institute for Space Studies that they have to leave Armstrong Hall, a Columbia University-owned building at Broadway and West 112th Street, by the end of May.
The building is better known to TV viewers as the home of Tom’s Restaurant, the diner whose facade appears in “Seinfeld” episodes, and to Gen Xers as the place that inspired Suzanne Vega’s 1980s song, “Tom’s Diner.”
The move, NASA says, is part of a Trump administration cost-cutting push, but it appears unlikely to save money. In fact, it may wind up costing taxpayers more.
The office sits above Tom’s Restaurant, the famous diner from “Seinfeld.”Credit…Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
While NASA says it has canceled the lease, it actually remains in effect, because the lease is between Columbia and a different federal agency. So the annual rent of $3 million is still due, whether the scientists are there or not, according to a Columbia official with knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal matters. That means that there is no cost savings to the government for vacating the offices — only disruption, at least for now.
