NYU’s controversial expansion plans have been debated for the better part of a year now. The aggressive proposal calls for two blocks south of the current NYU campus in Greenwich Village to be converted into “superblocks” consisting of large new faculty buildings, student housing, and a new elementary school that may or may not have funding. The university expects to finish the project in 2031.
Reaction among Village residents to the NYU expansion plans has been loud and mostly hostile. Community board meetings on the subject have been filled with dissenting voices, and various demonstrations have been held in protest of the plan. One more is going to be held this Thursday at St. Anthony of Padua Church on Sullivan and Houston Streets to coincide with Community Board 2’s vote on the NYU expansion plans, also occurring at St. Anthony’s. The protest, which is being sponsored by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, is also being supported by NYU students and faculty who opposed the plan as well as local block associations and unions.
The NYU expansion plans have already been opposed by CB2’s Land Use Committee, and it appears likely that the Community Board will vote against the proposal. However, construction and redevelopment can continue if NYU gets the support of the City Planning Committee (which is currently conducting an Environmental Impact Study on the proposal) and Borough President Scott Stringer.
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