From her home office across West 21st Street in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, Double Dore Emily Baker Tobin can look out at the Gothic spires and collegiate quadrangle of the General Theological Seminary (GTS)—a landmark that has framed her daily life for years. As a lifelong Episcopalian, she had long admired the buildings, but could never have imagined that one day she would bring her alma mater to the historic campus.
“This campus began as a passion project for me,” she says. “Now, it’s a dream come true.”
An Opportunity Hidden in Plain Sight
Founded in 1817, GTS is one of the oldest seminaries in the United States and an iconic New York City landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its park-like campus—a full city block in the Chelsea Historic District—is home to 13 buildings on the oldest surviving collegiate quadrangle in New York City.
By the early 2020s, declining admissions had left GTS financially strained. In 2022, it partnered with Virginia Theological Seminary to stabilize operations, transitioning to a largely non-residential model with much of its academic activity shifting away from the New York campus. As a result, the seminary began exploring long-term lease opportunities for the Chelsea property.
Tobin learned of a discreet pending transaction in January 2024. Drawing on her background as an institutional equity portfolio manager, she launched into what she describes as an intense research deep dive.
Emily spent dozens of hours immersed in city and state archives, reading real estate filings and the legal and regulatory framework governing nonprofits in New York. Her work raised broader questions about transparency, governance and how best to align the future of the campus with the interests and values of the surrounding community.
Calling in the Community
Tobin shared her perspective with city and state leaders, including City Councilmember Erik Bottcher, now a New York State Senator. Within hours, Bottcher led a coalition of senior elected officials to secure a meeting with GTS management. Tobin also engaged directly with Episcopal bishops, pressing for greater scrutiny to ensure any potential tenant aligned with the long-term stewardship of the campus and the surrounding community. As concerns emerged, GTS leadership invited the broader Chelsea community to help shape its future, opening the door for a different kind of partner. From the outset, Tobin viewed Vanderbilt as a natural fit.
The connection was not simply sentimental. Emily believed a New York campus would meaningfully extend Vanderbilt’s Dare to Grow mission while also reflecting a deep historical connection. While reading a 1969 sesquicentennial history of the seminary, Tobin discovered that the Vanderbilt family had longstanding ties to GTS. During the late 1800s, William H. Vanderbilt and his son Cornelius Vanderbilt II had been prominent GTS benefactors and Cornelius II was a member of the seminary’s Standing Committee. The symmetry was striking. Cornelius Vanderbilt, known as “the Commodore,” was a New Yorker who founded a university in the South after the Civil War in the name of national unity. A New York City campus, Tobin believed, would powerfully expand that original vision.
The window of opportunity was narrow. To reach Vanderbilt leadership quickly, Emily turned to her close friend Teresa Ford Chope, BA’87, wife of fellow Double ’Dore Douglas Chope, BS’86, MBA’88, and parent of Vanderbilt alumni Douglas Ford Chope, BS’23, and Sallie Chope, BS’24. Teresa helped Emily quickly reconnect with Bruce Evans, chair of Vanderbilt’s Board of Trust—whom Emily had met during her tenure as chair of the Owen Graduate School of Management Advisory Council—and to get in touch with Chancellor Daniel Diermeier.
Emily presented a comprehensive analysis of the campus opportunity and made clear that only days remained before the existing deal could be finalized.
“I knew they were both visionaries,” she said.
Chancellor Diermeier and the Board of Trust acted swiftly. Within days, Vanderbilt secured a 99-year lease on the 2.7-acre campus.
“Watching Vanderbilt’s leadership take this idea and bring it to life in days—literally—against all odds was nothing short of extraordinary. With unparalleled agility, they executed with the speed and precision of a top-tier investment firm,” Tobin said.
A Campus Takes Shape
Vanderbilt-New York City will welcome its first class of 95 junior and senior undergraduate students in fall 2026, combining classroom learning with immersive internship experiences across the city’s leading industries. A graduate cohort of 50 students focused on entrepreneurship, technology and business will join them in fall 2028. Vanderbilt has also committed to public programming, research partnerships and biotech research labs developed in partnership with New York State. A series of lectures, cultural events and community gatherings began in early 2025, bringing hundreds of New Yorkers onto the campus for the first time in decades.
“Watching Vanderbilt’s leadership take this idea and bring it to life in days—literally—against all odds was nothing short of extraordinary. With unparalleled agility, they executed with the speed and precision of a top-tier investment firm.”
“It’s a win for everyone,” Tobin said. “The seminary gains a committed campus partner, the community gains a revitalized civic and academic anchor designed for deep engagement with the city and Vanderbilt launches an impactful new campus.”
These days, neighbors often stop her to share how much it matters to be welcomed back to a space long closed—its original identity as Chelsea Square finally restored.
Tobin now chairs the Vanderbilt-New York City Engagement Committee, focused on corporate relations, community ambassadorship and support for renovations, programming and scholarships. She and her husband David have previously supported Vanderbilt through scholarships and programming, and now, they have deepened their investment by giving the inaugural gift for the new campus.
The Pathfinder Award
At a New York spotlight event in October 2025, Tobin was surprised with two honors: Vanderbilt’s inaugural Pathfinder Award—given for exceptional vision and dedication to transformative advances—and a citation from New York City officials, led by Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, for going above and beyond for the city. She was quick to share the credit.
“There are many pathfinders at Vanderbilt and in Chelsea. This project was realized through relentless focus on a shared goal.”
She traces her instinct for this kind of work directly to her time at Vanderbilt. “Vanderbilt not only sharpened how I think, but it also taught me how to operate within a broader community, collaborate with persistence and engage in open dialogue.” She hopes the New York campus will pass those lessons to a new generation.
Now, when Emily looks out her window, she sees not just a landmark, but a legacy for every generation of Vanderbilt to come. A new place to anchor down and dare to grow. “Welcome home, Commodore,” she said.
—Payton Baggett Reynolds