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NYU Wants a Million Square Feet of Governors Island For Urban Studies Campus

By DNAinfo Staff on March 26, 2010 6:11pm  | Updated on March 29, 2010 8:08am

NYU hopes to build a world-class urban studies institute on Governors Island.
NYU hopes to build a world-class urban studies institute on Governors Island.
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Courtesy of Cooper, Robertson & Partners and dbox

By Nicole Breskin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

GREENWICH VILLAGE — New York University is eyeing a whopping 1 million square feet of land on Governors Island as a potential campus for its new urban studies institute, school officials said Friday.

“Governors Island is slightly removed from city life with a lot of space,” NYU spokesman John Beckman said.

“It would be a perfect home for an institution that would examine the kind of issues that urban areas are going to confront — from transportation to safety and sustainability — right in New York City.”

The proposed move onto Governors Island is part of NYU's plan to placate its neighbors and local politicians who are afraid the expansion would overwhelm the Village. 

NYU is considering Governors Island as a spot for a new campus.
NYU is considering Governors Island as a spot for a new campus.
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Courtesy of Cooper, Robertson & Partners and dbox

The campus might include student and faculty housing that would have prime waterfront views.

Beckman said that the university might demolish buildings on the south end of Yankee Pier — currently the only way to access Governors Island by boat — and repurpose landmarked structures within the island's historic district.

Plans are still in the early stages, but as a show of the university’s commitment to the project, NYU is establishing a specific committee within the university solely to flesh out the proposal, according to Beckman.

The idea and location for the new school’s site came, in large part, from ongoing discussions with the Community Task Force on NYU Development, a group led by Borough President Scott Stringer. The task force released a report on the university’s expansion plans at City Hall on Thursday.

“NYU must coexist and not overrun the Greenwich Village community," said Stringer, speaking at a press conference Thursday after the report's release.

“Preserving the historic quality of Greenwich Village is non-negotiable.”

NYU’s nursing school is also slated to move uptown, to First Avenue in the East 20s and 30s, as part of a university health campus.

Greenwich Village leaders believe off-site locations are crucial considerations for NYU’s plans, but some questioned whether expansion to Governors Island was feasible.

“You can only stick so much in Greenwich Village,” said David Gruber, chair of Community Board 2’s Arts and Institutions Committee and a member of the task force. “It’s important for NYU to consider remote sites, but I don’t know how realistic Governors Island is. They can’t have everything.”

NYU is considering Governors Island as a spot for a new campus.
NYU is considering Governors Island as a spot for a new campus.
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Courtesy of Cooper, Robertson & Partners and dbox

The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, a state agency that currently oversees the island’s conservation and development, said that the organization was open to development and bringing new tenants to historic buildings, but than any plans must go through the city approval processes.

The university’s full plans for development will be released on April 14.

NYU is considering Governors Island as a spot for a new campus.
NYU is considering Governors Island as a spot for a new campus.
View Full Caption
Courtesy of Cooper, Robertson & Partners and dbox