End-of-summer progress report on NYU development and satellite campuses
GVSHP has led a coalition of community groups which have long called for NYU to work with the City to find locations for satellite campuses for the university, in order to prevent continuing overdevelopment of our neighborhoods (see here and here). Earlier this year, Borough President Stringer began convening an NYU Community Task Force on Development Issues, and NYU finally began its long-promised “Strategic Planning” process, to examine and discuss with the community its long-term growth needs. As a member of the task force, GVSHP has made pushing NYU to find satellite locations a top priority. This became especially critical when NYU recently announced they will need six million additional square feet of space over the next 25 years, and will grow by 5,500 students — the equivalent of thirty-four of their new 26-story East 12th Street mega-dorms, and five times the entire student population of Cooper Union (see here).
Our efforts may be bearing fruit. NYU recently announced that they are acquiring a site in downtown Brooklyn for a new graduate student dorm, and the university has now clearly stated that they are working with the City to look for satellite campus and other locations outside of our neighborhoods to site future facilities. Of course we still have a long way to go, and NYU is still indicating they believe they will need to grow substantially within our neighborhoods even if they do establish satellite locations. However, this is an important step in the right direction, and we have every intention of ensuring that NYU follows through on its commitments, and of pushing them to go further (GVSHP is still calling for NYU to remain within its existing footprint and envelope within our neighborhood). For more information on NYU’s “Strategic Plan” and their efforts to locate satellite campuses, see here.
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