NYU has flirted with extending its purple tentacles to Governors Island over the past few years, and it appears that dream is not dead?despite how some faculty and students feel about the abandoned isle. In The Villager this week, NYU's community relations ninja Alicia Hurley pens a long piece about the school's efforts to not ruffle any feathers regarding its expansion plans. We're sure Village preservationists would love to pen line-by-line rebuttals, but right near the bottom lies this interesting paragraph:
As for what's next, the university will unveil its long-range plan in the early part of 2010. The plan will contain no major surprises that depart from where we left off in 2008, but it will show a very carefully thought-out, rigorously analyzed pathway for the university to contemplate its future in New York City. Aspects of the plan will chart guidelines and parameters for growth; aspects will outline how best to utilize our existing footprint in Greenwich Village; and, importantly, aspects will also recognize that to sustain our future we must look more broadly to the city in academic hubs that exist (First Ave. health corridor), that are emerging (Downtown Brooklyn) and that are aspirational (Governors Island). DoBro has been mentioned as an NYU target, and the school has already acquired educational assets in the 'hood. Is there something else going on?
We asked if this bit of prose means that NYU has more to report on its efforts to break into Downtown Brooklyn and Gov's Island, and Hurley got back to us with this comment. Sounds like business as usual, for now:
Pursuing the identified remote locations has always been a priority. The plan recognizes that the University cannot fill all its needs in Greenwich Village. If any of the remote locations do not work out, that square footage will not be shifted to Greenwich Village. We will continue to look for remote space outside of the neighborhood.Hmm, where else? One neighborhood we can cross off NYU's list: in Long Island City.
· A university, doing its homework, charts a new path [The Villager]
· NYU Expansion coverage [Curbed]
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