NEW YORK CITY-The New York City Department of City Planning certified New York University’s special permit and zoning map for its “core” NYU 2031 plan late Jan. 3, marking one of the first steps needed for the school to expand its academic and commercial footprint in the West Village. The plan, which still requires multiple city approvals under the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, would allow the university to develop approximately 1.3 million square feet in four buildings across an NYU-owned superblock on West 3rd Street, West Houston Street, Mercer Street and LaGuardia Place.

“Strong universities are important to the city’s economic future, and keeping them strong requires space for teaching, learning, and research,” says Lynne Brown, a senior vice president at NYU, in a prepared statement after the vote. “The NYU Core plan calls for collaboration with stakeholders and the city in an effort to bring clarity of design and purpose to our university-owned superblocks. The certification of this project is the first of many steps towards reaching this goal and we’re looking forward to continuing this dialogue as we move through the ULURP process.”

If the plan reaches final approval, phase I of construction will involve the development of an 800,000-square-foot “zipper” building with ground floor retail, academic space, student and faculty housing, a below ground gym and hotel space, GlobeSt.com previously reported. In addition, NYU acquired land on the corner of Houston and Bleecker streets for $23 million to build a K-8 public school that will be donated to the New York City School Construction Authority, which currently houses a Morton Williams Supermarket. Within the same building, a 190-unit dormitory will be constructed above with a separate entranceway.