The university started the year by making progress in NYU 2031 — the plan to expand six million square feet in the village and beyond by the university's bicentennial. Over winter break, the Department of City Planning certified NYU's proposals for superblocks in Washington Square Village, and the university presented a plan to add more public open space in Greenwich Village.
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A rendering portrays an example of a proposed superblock.
CERTIFICATION
Five years ago, NYU filed a standardized Land Use Review application to the Department of City Planning for its superblocks that stretch from West 3rd Street and West Houston Street to Mercer Street and LaGuardia Place. The university received a certification earlier this month to initiate the next phase of the official seven-month approvals process known as the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure overseen by the Community Board, the Borough President, the Planning Commission and the City Council.
Once NYU is given the authorization from these board members to move forward, construction will begin. The date, however, has not been determined.
But Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, says the certification is meaningless, as it does not indicate that approvals have been granted or that the application is favorable.
"I ultimately do not believe that our city leaders are going to give the university this enormous package of approvals to try to shoehorn two and a half million square feet of space, which is the equivalent of the Empire State Building, into this area," he said.
PUBLIC SPACE
NYU has also presented plans to add over three acres of publicly accessible open space in Greenwich Village and rebuild 40,000 square feet of public parkland, which will be landscaped to include children's playgrounds, dog runs and quiet sitting areas. In 2031, approximately 3.8 acres of new parkland and publicly accessible open spaces will be available to the community and the university.
"Functional, accessible open space is a vital resource in creating an interconnected community," said Alicia Hurley, vice president for University Relations and Public Affairs. "With this in mind, the NYU Core plan's open-space component aims to create inviting public space that is accessible, diversified and beneficial to the community."
However, Terri Cude, co-chair of the Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031, said the university's plans do not indicate any addition of new open space.
"The open space has been there . . . since Washington Square Village was built in the 1950s and has long been publicily accessible," Cude said. "Instead, new building footprints would reduce the total open space by a significant amount.
Village resident Louis Terracio, associate dean of research at the College of Dentistry, believes that the 3.1 acres is a positive addition to 2031 and that it shows NYU is trying to be a good neighbor.
"It is well thought out. I believe a strength of it is that it is not all centered in one location," said Terracio, who has closely followed the plan since its inception. "The detractors focus on the plans in [the Washington Square] area, but a lot of the growth is in other parts of the city. Nobody knows if we will be successful in gaining approval, but I certainly hope we do since that is critical to the overall plan."
