By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GREENWICH VILLAGE — NYU withdrew its application Thursday to build a fourth tower in the I.M. Pei-designed and landmark-protected Silver Towers complex.
The university said it had a change of heart about putting the proposed 400-foot tall tower in the complex, which had drawn criticism from the community, after receiving a letter from architect Henry Cobb on behalf of I.M. Pei expressing the designer's opposition to adding the tower.
"In principle, and without regard to the specifics of its design, a fourth tower is profoundly destructive of the landmarked entity, because it encloses a composition that was intended to be open and upsets the carefully considered balance between solid and void," Cobb wrote in a letter to Robert Tierney, chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
School officials will now move forward with plans to build a tower at the site of the Morton Williams supermarket at LaGuardia Place and Bleecker Street.
"From the beginning, we sought a design for the Silver Towers block that was most respectful of Mr. Pei's vision," read a statement from NYU Thursday. "The clarity that Mr. Pei has now provided —that the Morton Williams site is 'preferable'— is helpful to us in understanding how to proceed with the U.L.U.R.P. (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure) proposal."
Greenwich Village community members strongly opposed NYU's tower plan and preservation advocates rejoiced at the proposal's withdrawal Thursday.
"I am deeply gratified that in the face of overwhelming opposition, including from architect I.M. Pei, NYU has chosen to withdraw its plans for the landmarks approval for a 400-foot tall tower in the Silver Towers complex," said Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, which led the way to landmark the complex in 2008.
Architects for the university presented the tower plan before a Community Board 2 meeting last week.
The board delayed voting on the plan so that it could draft a strong resoution against the proposal, said Sean Sweeney, chair of the landmarks committee.
Despite the removal of the tower plan, NYU's continued expansion in the Greenwich Village area, and construction at the Morton Williams site, against community wishes still poses a threat to the neighborhood, Berman said.
"We will continue to strongly oppose NYU's massive overdevelopment plans in our neighborhood," he said.
