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In late July, NYU received approval from the City Council to build on two Greenwich Village-area superblocks after nearly a five-year process through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. While passed being 26% smaller and 26% less dense than the university’s original plan, NYU will build four new buildings in place of three existing structures in the area bounded by West 3^rd Street on the north, Houston Street on the south, Mercer Street on the east and LaGuardia Place on the west.

During phase I of construction, NYU will replace the current Coles gym along Mercer Street with a multi-use building dubbed the “Zipper Building,” which would include a 299-foot tower on the corner of Mercer and Houston, and several other buildings of varying heights. The single-story Morton Williams grocery store will replaced by a 14-story building with a dormitory, faculty housing, hotel space, a below-ground gym and a 100,000-square-foot space NYU would donate to the New York City Department of Education for use as a public school.

During phase II—spanning 2022 to 2031—the university would construct a 14-story, 250,000-square-foot academic building on Mercer Street and an eight-story academic building on LaGuardia Place. Throughout the development, nearly half of the space for the superblocks will be below grade.

However, the plan has come up against intense scrutiny, being unanimously opposed by the area’s local Community Board, preservationists, neighborhood groups and a number of the university’s own faculty. The case argues that the superblocks are now largely residential and include open space and parkland—or “public amenities unquestionably in short supply in Greenwich Village.” The suit also alleges that the city “illegally turned over public park land for NYU’s use, illegally permitted destruction of a historic preservation site and illegally ignored deed restrictions.”

Located just southeast of Washington Square Park, NYU’s superblocks were the result of a federal slum clearance project in the 1950s that cleared six city blocks and combined them into the two superblocks that exist today. In 1963, the blocks were bulldozed by Robert Moses under the federal urban renewal program and were transferred to NYU for development. The site is primarily residential, and includes the landmarked Silver Towers designed by I.M. Pei, the Morton Williams Supermarket located on the corner of Bleecker and LaGuardia Place and the Coles Gymnasium on the east side of University Village, an affordable housing co-op at 505 LaGuardia Place.

In response to the complaint, a spokesperson for the New York City Law Department says the expansion plan, which enables NYU to add much-needed academic facilities and housing, is lawful and followed all applicable processes. “It was approved by both the City Council and the City Planning Commission after substantial and thorough public review,” the person says. “We are confident it will be upheld. We are reviewing the claims and will respond appropriately."

John Beckman, a spokesman for NYU, tells GlobeSt.com that the university’s proposal to build new academic facilities, student dormitories and faculty housing went through an extensive planning and consultation process. “The City Planning Commission and City Council overwhelmingly approved NYU's proposal after holding extensive public hearings and engaging in a thorough and rigorous public review process as required by law,” he says, in a statement. “We are confident that we will prevail in court against any claims that are made."

By the university’s bicentennial year in 2031, NYU hopes to add six million square feet of space in Greenwich Village, the Health corridor on First Avenue and in Downtown Brooklyn overall.