Vin Cipolla, president of the Municipal Art Society of New York, tells GlobeSt.com that the resolution is a great example of NYU and the community getting “proactive” about comprise. “It’s a good thing that the modifications are being pursued now by the university,” he says, noting that MAS is advocating for a balanced approach and more open space as the plan continues its way through the ULURP process.

“It’s always been an important part of what we’ve been concerned about there over a long time, which is the opposite of the university creating some kind of a wall or closing it off or trying to create a quad that separates that area physically from the rest of the neighborhood,” he says. “Hopefully there will continue to be progress on the open space plan and on the parkland pieces, and hopefully there will be continued progress on the density being proposed.”

But other groups are still skeptical about the university’s promises. Law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP has been tapped to represent two groups -- the NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation -- in the city's land use process.

In a statement, Mark Crispin Miller, a member of NYUFASP, says it is unclear if NYU will engage the community on the merits of the new plan. “It is also quite clear that – as a negotiating tactic in the land-use process – they have certified a plan that involves much more extensive, and far more concentrated, development than is necessary or rational,” he says. “It is a shame that some elected officials have voiced support for the plan, or some modified version of it, without seriously considering the community’s concerns.”