How NYU Plans To Expand In The Village & Why Residents Are So Mad
By Charlie Eisenhood
Though NYU’s 2031 plans encompass a great deal of new construction in various parts of the city, the most impacting changes to students will take place just south of Washington Square. The university has bold plans for both of the “superblocks” and is already working to get approval on some of their plans.
Last week NYU Local had the opportunity to sit down with top NYU officials and designers to discuss the plans for the two superblocks. The following is a deep look at the university’s proposals, the criticisms from the community, and our views on the changes.
Washington Square Village
Bounded by Bleecker, West 3rd, LaGuardia, and Mercer streets, Washington Square Village (WSV) is the superblock just south of the main NYU campus. It currently holds four apartment buildings — housing NYU faculty, grad students, and other unaffiliated residents — aligned in two parallel rows running west to east across the block. It feels somewhat incongruous with the rest of the very walkable village — the placement and design of the buildings makes the block feel private. A large central garden, beloved by the residents, is hardly used by pedestrians.
Many NYU students probably only know this block as a cut-over between Coles Gym and the academic buildings on West 4th street.
2031 Plans For The Block
The major change for the block would be the addition of two new buildings in between the existing apartment complexes, all of which would be preserved. The new buildings would sit on the western and eastern edges of the block with entrances onto Mercer Street and LaGuardia Place.
The appropriately (if blandly) named LaGuardia and Mercer buildings, planned to be 125 and 215 feet tall, respectively, would be used for academic purposes. (For comparison, the existing WSV buildings are approximately 170 feet tall). They would also extend below ground to gain more square footage. Both would include ground-floor retail — the existing buildings would also be renovated and opened for ground-floor retail.
The central garden and playground would be removed and an entirely new garden area and plaza would be rebuilt at street level. A new playground would be added just north of the plaza. Below is a look at the block’s proposed footprint (the top of the image is north):
The odd, curved shape of the buildings is intentional. “We want to create more open space,” explained an NYU design team member. “We’re providing a clearer sense of entrances and exits [to the block].”
The buildings would also taper as they rose in an attempt to keep sunlight in the center of the block.
The center Light Garden would be sunk below street level, acting as a focal point for the WSV Plaza (3), “a wide paved area with tables and chairs.” The garden would be only accessible from the new buildings “to ensure security.”
The goal of the extensive redesign of the block is to make it much more urban walkable. The new sight lines and “park-like settings” are meant to “draw users into the University space along broad bench-lined pathways.”
Criticism And Protest
Along with many who say NYU should not expand any further in the Village whatsoever, there are site-specific complaints about the proposed WSV plans. Many residents of WSV are horrified at the prospect of losing their garden and playground. The increased foot traffic is also a point of stress.
Many are also concerned that the new buildings will feel out of place and won’t mesh with the existing structures of the Village. Andrew Berman, Executive Director of the Greenwich Village Society of Historical Preservation and one of NYU’s loudest critics, says that the new development will make the Village “unrecognizably transformed. Places that are not NYU will be the exception and places that belong to NYU will be the rule.”
Really, though, the main battleground over the 2031 Village expansion plans is in the block just to the south of WSV, University Village. It will be discussed below.
NYU Local’s Take
Although the proposed changes have drawn ire from residents of WSV and zealous opponents of NYU expansion, the designs, if fully implemented, would likely transform a strange, rarely-used block into a comfortable, inviting space. The original design of the block by Robert Moses, the hugely controversial and extremely powerful urban planner, planted big buildings next to a massive open space, isolating the block from the rest of the area.
Although the residents love the privacy and what amounts to their own personal garden, the rest of the residents of the Village suffer. There is no reason to walk through the block. It feels unwelcoming. Simply put, it doesn’t fit in with Greenwich Village.
NYU’s design team wants to change that. They hope to make the block a mixed-use area, combining its current residential use with ground-level retail and a pedestrian thoroughfare. Yes, that would be joined with two new large buildings. But to call them out of place seems funny when the existing buildings are perhaps even more incongruous.
Making this block a part of the community and not just a private space for WSV residents will be a huge net positive.
University Village
The University Village (UV) superblock — between Bleecker, Mercer, La Guardia, and Houston streets — sits due south of WSV. It contains the I.M. Pei-designed Pinwheel towers in the center of the block, Coles Gymnasium along Mercer street, and a Morton Williams supermarket, now owned by NYU, in the northwest corner. Much of the middle of the block, including the Pei towers and its central plaza, was landmarked in 2008. Two of the three existing I.M. Pei towers are owned by NYU and house graduate students and faculty. The third tower (505 Laguardia Pl.) is a co-op on a 99-year lease.
The block also includes a community garden and popular dog run.
2031 Plans For The Block
When NYU acquired the supermarket building in 2001, the “intention was really only to build on that site,” according to Alicia Hurley, Vice President of Government Affairs and Civic Engagement. However, the university has since decided that they would prefer to add a fourth tower to the pinwheel design. However, because that building would fall on the landmarked area, it would require approval by the Landmarks Preservation Commission later this winter before the plan could move forward.
The tower, planned to be 38 stories and nearly 400 feet tall (which would make it the Village’s tallest building), would house faculty along with an NYU-operated hotel. (The building would be split about 50/50 between those uses). For comparison, the Pei buildings stand 30 stories and 305 feet tall. However, the new tower would contain the same amount of square footage as the Pei buildings; its footprint would be smaller to compensate for its greater height. The design appears to be a glassy version of the brutalist egg-crate facade of the Pei buildings.
The architect for NYU explained the “pinwheel” concept of the fourth tower as creating a “rotational symmetry” with the other three buildings, “reinforcing the planning principles already established” and continuing the vision of Pei’s that no building would obstruct the sightline of the other. He claimed that the new building, despite being 100 feet taller than the other three, would not obstruct their views. This fits the “vision of NYU that any added building should participate in the existing dialogue of the other three.”
Top NYU officials said that they didn’t want to build on the supermarket because it would block the view of some of the Pei tower residents.
The university would also demolish Coles and build a new building — the Zipper Loft — in its place. The building would stand 13 to 17 stories tall along the entire Mercer block, housing a 1,400 bed dorm, academic space, and a brand new gym underground. It would be moved east to be flush with the sidewalk, creating a larger walkway behind it (the currently rarely-used Greene street corridor). It would also be home to retail — including a supermarket, ostensibly to replace the Morton Williams — along Mercer street.
The dog run on Mercer that would be destroyed to build the Zipper Loft would be replaced along Houston street. Here’s a footprint of the proposed block (again, the top is north):
The new Pinwheel tower (8) is designed to preserve other towers’ residents’ views intact.
The community garden in the northwest corner would remain intact under this plan. A second playground (6) would be added.
Criticism And Protest
The complaints about the plans on this block have been loud and clear. Just yesterday, Villagers gathered in the courtyard to protest the new Pinwheel Tower plan. Holding signs like “NYUZilla” and “Invest in students, not in real estate,” the approximately 60 gathered called for NYU to keep the block as it is.
Again, many are concerned about greater foot traffic in their semi-private space.
The UV plans have been repeatedly ripped at Community Board meetings. One woman compared NYU officials to warlike Mayans, “always looking to dominate.” At last night’s meeting, no less than 40 members of the public testified against it, with complaints focusing on the violation to the established landmark. “I don’t understand why NYU feels they can violate what was just two years ago landmarked by just saying ‘Oh, we’re continuing the pinwheel!’ How is that relevant?” noted one Villager.
Residents of the block call the proposed tower wildly out of context. “You say you want to ‘create a dialogue,’ but what sort of dialogue does a 400-foot tall building have with the history and scale of our existing neighborhood?” noted one woman at the meeting. NYU’s plans to use about 50% of the new space for a university-run hotel is also boiling local blood. Many feel that the university has no place running a business that has no academic purposes, and especially not in a neighborhood where there are a large number of hotels already established.
NYU has said that the use of the building is still flexible, and that they are not completely wedded to the idea of it being a hotel. “It could even be student-residential,” the NYU representative said, to which the audience hissed loudly.
NYU Local’s Take
There is no place for a new tower in University Village. Go walk around the complex and you’ll see how little space there really is there, something that cannot be gleaned from the drawings. Now picture a 38-story high rise wedged in. We might have an easier time swallowing the 399-foot tower if it would be contributing something to our education or the community, but a university hotel is just not a compelling enough argument. If anything, it seems a vast overstepping of what seems within university jurisdiction to establish, especially when tuition is ballooning every year.
In sharp contrast with the WSV block, the designs for this block would not make it more walkable. The placement of the Zipper Loft — a building that looks very promising, especially considering how awful Coles is — could help, but a fourth tower doesn’t. There’s no real upside for the community or the current residents.
Frankly, the towers themselves are a blight. The block is an artifact of an era in urban planning when everyone was screwing up — the “towers in a park” model is awful and clearly doesn’t fit into the Village neighborhood. That said, they’re landmarked. They’re not going anywhere. But adding another tower won’t help this block — it would just incense everyone who lives nearby.
We do understand NYU’s need to provide attractive housing to professors in a city where the cost of living is so high. It does not, however, need to happen in University Village. What happened to expanding near the WTC site? The local Community Board chairperson Julie Menin came to the CB2 meeting to remind NYU that the building has space available, and the university would be welcomed down there.
Seeing the rage of the residents at the protest and meeting cannot be taken lightly. Many of the opponents are NYU faculty, whose living area would be subject to months or years of construction upheaval, and then made to face an obelisk thereafter.
We do give credit to NYU for expanding the green space on the block in its plans and adding a second playground. If they do move forward with their proposals, it will be these kinds of touches that will make a hugely positive difference.
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The 2031 plans are, unfortunately, often misconstrued and distorted by opponents. It is important that everyone sees that NYU has taken real care to develop serious plans about how to best use the space. In some cases, we think they’re right on. In others, we don’t. But that’s great — this should be a dialogue. After years of largely ignoring the community, NYU finally wants to talk; members of the Village should too.
The real question is whether or not NYU should be trying to expand by 40 percent, not whether or not they should expand near campus. NYU officials argue that the schools has so little square footage per student that we need the space to stay competitive. But do we need to continue to expand the school so much? A slower growth rate might help lessen the estimated $6 billion cost of the 2031 plans (three times the size of the endowment) and make tuition more affordable. Bringing down the colossal average student debt at graduation is not a bad thing.
Regardless, some expansion in Greenwich Village is inevitable. This primer on the proposed changes should help give context to NYU’s ideas and the criticism from Villagers. Let’s make this the start of a discussion, not a screaming match.
Images courtesy of NYU’s full report on the Core expansion plans.
