If you're asserting that Cornell has a poor engineering program, I think you need to do a little more research

"Among graduate engineering programs, Cornell was ranked 9th in the United States by U.S. News in 2008" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_University

I don't think NYC needs a Stanford or MIT, they need someone who will treat the NYC campus as a primary focus. For that reason Columbia and Cornell should come first. You might argue that Columbia already has a presence but that doesn't mean they're NOT hurting for space. Furthermore, Cornell already has a NYC presence as well.