NYU to hold “Strategic Plan Open House”
This Thursday, June 28, from 3 to 8 pm, NYU will be holding a “Strategic Plan Open House” at Hemmerdinger Hall, 100 Washington Square East. NYU’s announcement refers to it as “Planning for the next 25 years...be part of NYU’s strategic planning initiative to address the University’s academic needs and physical development over the next few decades. Come and meet the team who will be working on the plan. Let them hear your thoughts about the neighborhood in which you live, work, and go to school and how NYU can have a positive impact upon its future.”
NYU has begun discussions about its strategic plans with the NYU Community Task Force established by Scott Stringer, which includes GVSHP, many other community groups, and elected officials; those same plans were recently also shared with the Villager, which both reported and editorialized upon them. NYU beginning this strategic planning process is a step in the right direction, though they still have a very long way to go. The recent announcements that the University is acquiring graduate student housing outside of Manhattan for the first time ever is encouraging; however, the University has also made known that they plan to locate an additional 600-900 beds for undergraduates somewhere in the Village (roughly the same number they are now building in their 26-story mega-dorm on East 12th Street, but in addition to those beds), and several other large-scale developments are underway or in the planning stages in the Village.
Additionally, in a best-case scenario, the university anticipates its academic and residential space will grow by 40% over the next 25 years, adding an additional 6 million square feet of space beyond the 14.5 million square feet they already have. However, because NYU currently has medical facilities in East Midtown and other facilities elsewhere, not all of this growth will necessarily be in the Village, but this is an enormous amount of new space. Plus, NYU’s estimates are based upon the assumption of a vastly increased percentage of students who will spend a semester or more abroad; GVSHP has questioned what if such plans don’t work out those students do not go abroad.
For these reasons, GVSHP continues to press NYU to find locations for satelite campuses outside of the Village to absorb this future growth, WHICH IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN ENSURE THAT NYU WILL NOT CONTINUE TO EXPAND AND TAKE OVER MORE AND MORE OF THE VILLAGE. We are also urging that the university stay within their current envelope and footprint within the Village.
There are other serious questions to which we continue to seek answers from the University:
- Where are they planning to house the additional 600-900 students they intend to locate in the Village in the next few years?
- What are their plans for the supermarket site on Bleecker Street and LaGuardia Place next to the I.M. Pei-designed Silver Towers complex?
- Why have they continually blocked community efforts to see the “green strips” along Bleecker Street and LaGuardia Place, next to the Silver Towers complex, from becoming permanent park space?
HOW TO HELP:
- COME TO THE NYU STRATEGIC PLAN OPEN HOUSE Thursday, June 28th from 3 to 8 pm (come at any time) at Hemmerdinger Hall, 100 Washington Square East. Ask questions about areas of concern to you, and ENCOURAGE NYU TO FIND LOCATIONS FOR SATELLITE CAMPUSES OUTSIDE OF THE VILLAGE, AND TO STAY WITHIN THEIR CURRENT ENVELOPE AND FOOTPRINT WITHIN THE VILLAGE.
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