NYU Rolls Out Expansion Strategy

"Though it is imperative for NYU to move forward, it is also vital to do so in a way that recognizes theuniversity as part of a special, storied neighborhood to which we owe an obligation of care," writes NYU president John Sexton in a letter introducing the NYU 2031 growth plan. With that in mind, the strategy acknowledges that not all of the university's planned 40% expansion of its current 15-million-square-foot physical plant can be accommodated in the Village.

The projected six-million-square-foot expansion is divided as follows: 3.5 million square feet of academic space, 1.5 million square feet of student housing, 500,000 square feet of academic housing and 500,000 square feet to accommodate student services. Half the combined new space would be in "remote" areas, whether in a proposed satellite campus on Governors Island or along the East Side medical corridor and downtown Brooklyn, two locations where the university already has a presence.

NYU's expansion strategy, intended to address a 24.5% growth in student population between 1990 and 2005, hasn't lacked for controversy. The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and other community groups intend to discuss their opposition to the plan at a news conference Wednesday afternoon in front of NYU's Kimmel Hall, shortly before the university begins an NYU 2031 open house at the same venue. Among other things, the GVSHP says the plan largely ignores the recommendations of a March report from a task force convened by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and calls the university's proposed construction of a 40-story tower on Bleecker Street "very disturbing."

For its part, the university says its plan was developed with input from the Stringer task force as well as community groups over the past three years. In a news release accompanying the March 25 unveiling of the task force report, Stringer points to the university's agreeing to provide space for a 600-seat, K-5 public elementary school within one of the Village "super blocks" that would be a focal point for the expansion. "While the exact site of this school has not yet been decided, NYU has pledged to work with the task force and the School Construction Authority to determine which of the proposed super-block sites might best accommodate a school," the release states.

Moreover, NYU says its growth strategy will rely on adaptive reuse, below-ground structures, and building orientation and massing intended to maximize open space while improving access to sunlight and air. The university vows to focus on its existing properties, to not seek any additional square footage beyond what is already allowed by zoning and to not make use of eminent domain. The strategy also incorporates a number of sustainable elements including green roofs and storm water retention, and aims for LEED Silver or comparable ratings in all new construction.

The plan will have to traverse the city's Uniform Land Use Review Procedure timeline before being implemented, a process that could take up to two years. Manhattan's Community Board 2 will take up NYU 2031 at a meeting scheduled for April 19.