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NYU’s Expansion Rankles the Neighborhood

Doris Casella and Dotty Roberts sat in the shade near the fountains of Washington Square Park, surrounded by New York University’s buildings. Even though Casella is an NYU graduate, she had only criticism for her alma mater’s expansion plans.

“When I heard that NYU was fixing this place up I almost had a heart attack,” Casella said. “I said ‘Those pigs are going to have this whole thing looking like … ‘ I don’t know what,” she said.

“Cement City,” said Roberts, picking up where her friend left off.

Casella and Roberts are just some of the residents who feel that NYU’s expansion plan, referred to loosely as the Sexton Plan and named for NYU President John Sexton, will destroy the character of the neighborhood. Last June, the New York City Council approved the expansion, which is scheduled for completion by 2031, when NYU turns 200 years old.

The planned development covers parts of a stretch of First Avenue, between from 23rd and 34th Streets, and another location in downtown Brooklyn.

“The expansion will turn the Village into a company town,” said Andrew Berman, executive director of Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, which has campaigned against NYU’s proposed expansion.

The university also has encountered resistance within its own ranks. More than 400 faculty members have formed the NYU Faculty Against Sexton Plan.

“People within NYU oppose the expansion,” said Marie Monaco, a physiology and neuroscience professor at NYU Langone Medical Center and a member of the faculty group. “Many faculty members feel that we should have a much stronger role in governance of the university. We don’t just want to be told what’s happening. We want to be listened to,” she said.

The faculty organization and preservation society have joined other organizations that are suing to stop NYU’s expansion into parkland, including Mercer Playground and LaGuardia Corner Gardens.

Residents who use the Mercer-Houston Dog Run, a membership-only dog park in the path of NYU’s proposed Zipper Building to house students and staff, also oppose the plan.

“It’s so neighborhood unfriendly,” said Kimberly Burns, a member of the dog run. “It’ll turn this beautiful part of the city into somewhere just like somewhere else,” she said.

Others express ambivalence as NYU plans to provide an alternative dog park just west of the current site.

“When they build all these buildings there’s going to be more jobs, there’s going to be more students, more opportunities,” said Sara Zeidan, a NYU undergraduate. “But at the same time all of this positive stuff can affect the people in the Village,” she said.

“I understand the need for all of this,” said Amy Lemen, another member of the dog park. “And I believe in the mission of all of it. But, again, I think that compromise is the key in all things,” she said.

Opponents of the expansion are realistic that the fight is an “uphill battle,” they said, but it is one that they will continue to wage.

“We are continuing to move ahead with this,” Professor Monaco said.