NYU Hears The Complaints, Scales Back Plan For Village Campus
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New York University has modified an expansion plan for its Greenwich Village campus in the face of community opposition.
The university will seek to acquire four strips of city land instead of seven.
The school plans to construct four taller buildings on two blocks and develop three acres of green space on the site.
1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon has the latest on NYU's expansion plans
Podcast
The revised plan redistributes the expansion on top of NYU's existing footprint on its superblocks, but caps the height of the buildings to no higher than existing ones, according to a statement from the University.
It also specifies the location of a promised new public elementary school on Bleecker Street near LaGuardia Place.
"We are paying very close attention to open space, and bringing open space back in a publicly accessible way," Sr. Vice President Lynne Brown told 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon.
A group of neighbors that opposed the previous version of the plan said their concerns have not changed.
"There is a shifting of who is affected, but there is no reduction in the number of people, and the lives, that will be affected very negatively by these plans," said Terri Cude, Co-Chair of Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031.
Neighbors said that open space that belongs to the university is not the same as open space that belongs to everyone.
In November, the school scrapped a controversial plan to add a 38-story tower to an I.M. Pei-designed three-building complex after residents and the architect objected. It now plans to build a shorter building on a nearby Greenwich Village site.
Community members are encouraged to participate in a series of focused, small-group open house discussions. People will be able to register for one of these discussion groups on March 21. Organizations may also request a private briefing on that date.
The city will hold public hearings in May.
(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
