David vs. the NYU Goliath

Residents stand up to unprecedented NYU expansion

By Andrew Rice

Greenwich Village residents have turned out in force to protest New York University's bid to aggressively expand their campus by nearly 40 percent by 2031.

January marked the beginning of a series of meetings held by Community Board 2 as NYU seeks to redevelop its two superblocks. Community members were fervently against the redevelopment as they filled the AIA building on LaGuardia Place to capacity, leaving over 200 people outside to bang on the windows during the Jan. 10 meeting.

The 2031 plan calls for four new buildings designed to provide another 3 million square feet of floor space to the NYU Greenwich Village campus. The building garnering the most attention is the proposed "zipper building," which would replace the current Coles Sports Center on Mercer Street. The building, at 299 feet, would be taller than the Silver Towers complex that currently dominates the Greenwich Village skyline.

To begin its radical remodeling of the Greenwich Village, NYU has asked the city to rezone its two superblocks from residential areas to commercial zones, "gift" several small areas of parkland, demolish several buildings and lift long-standing public space preservation ordinances.

Martin Tesler, a former CB2 board member with a degree in city planning, called NYU's plan a "Frankenstein Godzilla of zoning that is unprecedented in the past 20 years of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure." Tesler claimed the expansion would be completely out of context with the neighborhood, more in line with the zoning regulations of Midtown Manhattan.

The Village is already in a delicate balance as NYU students flock to area stores, restaurants and bars during the week. New dormitories and facilities would mean that the area would become even more saturated with students. Residents feel NYU is ignoring community concerns by catering to its shallowly rooted students, and opponents believe that the development will be the death knell of the neighborhood as it turns into a corporate town.

NYU students and faculty members joined the residents in their protest. Professor Mark Crispin Miller, who teaches media, culture and communication, said that his fellow faculty members are also opposed to the plan. Echoing the words of Occupy Wall Street protestors, he continued that the NYU plan for 2031 is only for the gain of the 1 percent: the school's board of trustees and John Sexton, its current president.

"Students want a campus in a neighborhood, not a neighborhood in a campus," said NYU graduate student Caroline Loy.

According to Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the best-case scenario if NYU is granted the approval is that the university won't expand elsewhere in the neighborhood until the project is finished. However, he continued, there is no guarantee that afterward NYU won't erect new buildings and facilities or demolish existing structures elsewhere in the neighborhood.

NYU currently plans to demolish the Coles Center, a dog park and a supermarket, which residents say are vital amenities. Also slated for removal is a strip of retail stores on LaGuardia Place between Bleecker and West Thirdstreets.

During the Monday, Jan. 9 meeting, which was moved to our Lady of Pompeii to accommodate all attendees, NYU outlined all of its proposed reforms to allow development. In an effort to garner community support, the university has promised to install a new public school on Bleecker Street, retail stores and a supermarket. NYU was unavailable for comment by press time on who would pay for the construction of the proposed public school.