NEW YORK CITY-The challenge between preservation and newdevelopment has historically been a balancing act in GreenwichVillage – and with New York University’s long-termexpansion plan before the city’s land use process, that trend is noexception. After being voted down by Manhattan’s Community Board2, the benefits and drawbacks of the school’s core projectwere discussed during the Municipal Art Society of NewYork’s “The University in the Neighborhood: Debating NYU’sExpansion Plan” at the Scholastic Auditorium in SoHo on Tuesdayevening, where panelists said density, alternative site selectionand open space need to be considered before the City Council givesthe plan the green light.

“It is important that we look at this in its full-dimensionrather than just a real estate deal,” said RonaldShiffman, a professor at Pratt’s Graduate Centerfor Planning, suggesting that sites in the Bronx, Brooklynand other areas should be looked at for the school's real estaterequirements, suggesting that NYU could be a "stabilizing force" inareas in need of economic investment.

By their bicentennial year in 2031, NYU hopes to add six millionsquare feet of space in Greenwich Village, the Health corridor onFirst Avenue and in Downtown Brooklyn. As part of its core plan,NYU is requesting a number of approvals from the city to build ontwo Greenwich Village-area superblocks. If granted, NYU would buildfour new buildings in place of three existing structures. Whencombined with the one million square feet of proposed below-gradespace, their new development in Greenwich Village would beapproximately equal in size to the Empire State Building, or,roughly, 2.5 million square feet.