Groups sue to block NYU's Greenwich Village expansion

From Crain's New York Business: Eleven groups opposing the massive expansion of New York University have sued to challenge the city's approval of a proposal to extend the university's Greenwich Village campus by 2 million square feet. The groups contend that the City Planning Commission and the City Council illegally turned over public land to facilitate NYU's expansion.

EARLIER... JULY 2012....from The New York Times: New York Universityhas won final approval for an expansion plan that will change the look and feel of New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood. The City Council approved a series of zoning amendments, permits and map changes that will allow the university to erect four buildings that will house classrooms, residence hall rooms and office space.April 2012....from The New York Times:New York Universityhas agreed to reduce the scale of its plans for four tall buildings in Greenwich Village by almost a fifth. The original plan, for student housing and classroom buildings on land the university owns south of Washington Square Park, was rejected unanimously by the local community board. The density of the project also has infuriated many faculty members and neighborhood activists. It remains unclear whether the proposed reductions will placate them.

Earlier...From The New York Times: New York University is having a hard time selling its plan to expand its Greenwich Village campus to Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president. Stringer wants the university to scale down its proposal substantially before he will endorse it, people familiar with his thinking say.

MARCH 2011....from The Wall Street Journal: New York University has unveiled a modified expansion plan for its campus in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighborhood. The school wants to construct four high-rises on two large blocks and develop three acres of green space on the site. NYU's original plan called for acquiring seven strips of city land. Now it wants only four of them. NOVEMBER 2010...from The New York Times: New York Universityhas abandoned plans to build the tallest tower in Greenwich Village after the architect I. M. Pei made his opposition known, and is now proposing to build a shorter but bulkier building on a different site. NYU had sought approval from the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to add a 38-story tower to the three-building Silver Towers complex that Pei designed 46 years ago. The new building, which was to feature a 240-room hotel on the first 15 floors, was part of the university’s plan to add 6 million square feet of classrooms, student housing and offices over the next two decades. APRIL 2010...from The New York Times: Several community groups held a news conference to denounce New York University's expansion plan, which would add about 3 million square feet of classrooms, residence halls and offices to the city's Greenwich Village area. One element that has drawn scorn from preservationists is a proposed 35- to 40-story tower that would have faculty housing and a university-affiliated hotel. MARCH 2010...from The New York Times: New York Universityis proposing the largest expansion in its history, with a new tower on Bleecker Street and three million square feet of new classrooms, residence halls and offices in the Greenwich Village area of New York City. The plans also call for creating a new engineering school in Brooklyn and a satellite campus on Governors Island with student and faculty housing. The project would expand N.Y.U.’s physical plant by 40 percent over the next 20 years.