By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GREENWICH VILLAGE — NYU is ready to build an elementary school for its neighbors as part of its 2031 expansion — but there's a catch.
The new school's construction is contingent on the success of the university's application to build a new tower in the neighborhood.
Neighbors said that the possibility of a new school is the latest tactic NYU has used to gain approval for a controversial 400-foot tall tower in the landmark protected Silver Towers complex, designed by I.M. Pei.
"Just because we want a school doesn't mean we need to accept a 40-story hotel in the middle of our superblock," said Jo Hamilton, chair of Community Board 2. The blocks between West 3rd Street and Houston Street from LaGuardia Place to Mercer Street are called "superblocks" for their size.
From the beginning of its expansion plans, NYU planned to include a 600-seat, K-6 school in its development, said Gary Parker, director of government and community affairs for the university at a meeting with residents and parents Tuesday.
But it was not clear to community members that plans for the school would indeed be folded into the larger expansion application, which includes the controversial tower.
"Do not link this school to the success of your NYU 2031 project," said David Gruber, a community board member, to NYU officials at the meeting.
"I'm calling on you to be a good neighbor, you use our services and we need you to give back," Gruber said of plans to build the school.
The push to get the tower approved began in earnest last week, when NYU architects argued at a community board landmarks meeting that a fourth tower at the Silver Towers complex would add to Pei's design.
University officials next said if the Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected the tower design within the complex then NYU would have no choice but to build at the site of the Morton Williams supermarket.
In response to the university's presentation, Community Board 2 postponed a vote on approving the design but inidicated strong opposition to continued construction in the Washington Square Park area.
Another point of contention between the university and the community are the possible locations for the school.
NYU has proposed allotting space for the school in one of two buildings they plan to build at either the LaGuardia Place retail strip between West 3rd and Bleecker streets or Mercer Street between Houston and Bleecker Streets.
Instead of building a new high-rise on the core around the university's campus, community members urged NYU to collaborate with the Department of Education to transform an existing building located at 75 Morton Street into a school.
"It's close, it's real, it exists and with a minimum amount of resources, it could be converted," Assemblywoman Deborah Glick said at the meeting.
Both NYU officials and community board members agreed to continue hashing out the new school through an ongoing exploratory committee, Hamilton said.
If the city approves NYU's development plans, construction on the new school would start no sooner than 2015, Parker said.
