By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GREENWICH VILLAGE — The New School's board approved a plan Wednesday to spend over $350 million to build a big new brass and glass student center on its Greenwich Village campus.
The new 365,000 square feet "University Center" will be the largest construction project in the school's 91-year history, and will include a library, lecture halls and a 608-bed dormitory, the University said.
“The University Center embodies The New School’s evolution,” said President Bob Kerrey. “This institution is in the midst of a transformation, amplifying its urban campus to serve degree-seeking students who now make up the majority of our enrollment.”
The space was designed by Roger Duffy of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and the plans were slated to be presented to the community at an open house on Thursday.
Michael J. Johnston, Chair of the university’s Board of Trustees, said of the approved plans: “If a single design can affirm a great university’s faith in the future, this one does it.”
The New School, which had been a commuter school, said it began the project to secure additional space for full-time students with its expanding enrollment.
The 16-story building will replace a structure designed as a department store in 1951.
The latest plan is a departure from the university’s original plan for a taller building, which community members and local preservationists had criticized as out of scale in the neighborhood.
Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, said: “[The new design is] a significant reduction from the originally planned 300-plus foot-tall building the New School proposed, but nevertheless still a large building."
The New School’s development in the Village, follows NYU’s 25-year growth plans to add 3 million square feet of space to its Greenwich Village campus alone.
“The New School did make drastic changes to their plan, which is a small victory for neighbors, ” said Mary Johnson, a Village resident and member of Borough President Scott Stringer’s task force on NYU expansion.
“But I am concerned about Greenwich Village which is a historic area. For many years, institutions were part of the Village but now it seems the Village is becoming part of institutions."
James Murtha, New School executive vice president, said the expansion was necessary “to accommodate the growth of important programs within our limited footprint.”
The developer on the project is The Durst Organization with Tishman Construction set to begin work in August.
The building is slated to open in fall 2013.
