NYU Past Campaign Updates

Great News Regarding Proposed 32-ft.-Tall 5G Towers in the West Village, Saving Charas/Former P.S. 64 at 605 East 9th Street, and Bleecker Street Morton Williams Supermarket

To kick off the new year, we have some great news to report on three vital fronts, spanning the West, East, and South Village:

One of the 32-ft-tall metallic 5G towers proposed for our neighborhoods. 

The former P.S. 64/Charas-El Bohio Community Center ca. 1998.
  • After a more-than-quarter-century battle, the landmarked historic former P.S. 64 at 605 East 9th Street (Avenues B and C), which for decades was the home of the Charas/El Bohio community center, has been wrested from the hands of developer Gregg Singer. Singer, who bought the building at auction from then-Mayor Giuliani, has sought to destroy the building, site uses here that were found to violate zoning restrictions, and left it dangerously open to the elements and vandals for decades. Village Preservation and a coalition of community groups and elected officials have sought to get the historic building out of Singer’s hands and back to a worthwhile community use. We are hopeful that under new ownership the building can finally be restored and used for a purpose that serves the public and the East Village as it did for decades as the home of the Charas/El Bohio Community Center. Read more here.

Bleecker Street Morton Williams with 505 LaGuardia Place behind it. 
  • We’re also pleased to report that in late December, the city, NYU, and Morton Williams announced a deal under which the supermarket located on NYU land on Bleecker Street east of LaGuardia Place would remain open at its current location for at least another 13 years. During the contentious battle over NYU’s 2031 expansion plan more than a dozen years ago, the university repeatedly promised that no matter what, it would either allow the supermarket to remain in its current location or provide a new space for it nearby in one of its new buildings. However, more recently the university and the City said the supermarket would have to vacate the site to accommodate new construction, and that there was no space available in any NYU building to house it. Village Preservation joined local residents and elected officials in calling for the university and the City to honor the original pledge by NYU to keep the supermarket in an accessible location where it could continue to serve local residents, many of them elderly and living in the adjacent affordable housing development at 505 LaGuardia Place. This deal will ensure that remains so through 2036.

Thank you to all who joined in these many fights to ensure these important victories!

January 2, 2024

NYU Lawsuit Seeking to Expand in NoHo and SoHo Rejected!

NYU’s 181 Mercer Street building under construction (Michael Young).

We’re pleased to report that yesterday State Supreme Court Judge Gerald Leibovits dismissed NYU’s lawsuit seeking to overturn the provision in the 2021 SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown Upzoning that we had fought hard to secure, which prohibited NYU and other private universities from expanding most types of its facilities into the area. The original rezoning would have allowed NYU and other private universities to locate most facilities in the rezoning area for the first time (after being prohibited by the neighborhoods’ long-standing zoning for decades). But after Village Preservation waged a campaign at the City Council specifically targeting that provision, the Council added restrictions on university uses into the final package. In its lawsuit seeking to overturn that provision, NYU specifically cited our efforts to have this restriction added as part of its legal arguments and justification for its suit.

When NYU announced its suit, Village Preservation immediately undertook a campaign to press the City to vigorously defend the provision in court (during the rezoning process, the City opposed such a provision). Leaving nothing to chance, we also joined with the Coalition for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo and Councilmember Christopher Marte in filing a motion to intervene in the case, to ensure the provision received the robust defense it warranted.

While NYU may appeal the decision, we understand that Justice Leibovits’ decisions have a very high rate of withstanding appeals. We will nevertheless continue to closely monitor and defend our position, as well as all rules and regulations that limit NYU’s ability to ceaselessly expand throughout our neighborhoods

if you’d like to support our ongoing efforts like these to preserve our neighborhoods.

May 17, 2023

Judge Accepts Our Motion to Intervene Over the Objections of Both NYU and NYC

We’re thrilled to report that our motion to intervene has been accepted in NYU’s lawsuit seeking to overturn the provision in the SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown rezoning that prohibits most private university expansion in the area! Unsurprisingly, NYU vigorously fought our motion, which allows us to argue against the case in court and take further actions regarding the rezoning as the case progresses. Disappointingly but not entirely surprisingly, the city also fought our motion, even though it allows us to support their case against NYU (this may have something to do with the fact that if the judge rules in favor of NYU, we have made clear we would also argue that the SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown rezoning cannot be considered valid because it did not include an analysis of the potential impact of NYU expansion in the area).

We will continue to fight to ensure that the provision we worked so hard for preventing NYU from expanding in the area is upheld, and that the damaging provisions of the rezoning are challenged and mitigated.

TO HELP:

February 21, 2023

Village Preservation, Councilmember Christopher Marte, Coalition for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo, and Allied Community Groups File Motion to Intervene in NYU SoHo/NoHo Rezoning Expansion Case

Late yesterday, Village Preservation, Councilmember Christopher Marte, the Coalition for Fairness in SoHo and NoHo, and allied community groups filed a “motion to intervene” in the lawsuit filed by NYU demanding that the provision in the SoHo/NoHo rezoning prohibiting it and other universities from expanding in the rezoning area be overturned. That provision was hard-fought-for by Village Preservation and our allies, who recognized that allowing NYU’s expansion in the area (as the version of the rezoning passed by the City Planning Commission would have allowed) would displace tenants and arts groups, and prevent the creation of affordable housing in the area — the main purported purpose of the rezoning (universities, like offices, hotels, retail, and luxury residential developments under 25,000 sq. ft. are all EXEMPTED from the rezoning’s affordable housing “requirements”). It was one of the very few but important positive changes to the rezoning we were able to win at the City Council, where approval of the the otherwise abominable rezoning was led by then-Councilmembers Margaret Chin and Corey Johnson, and current Councilmember Carlina Rivera. It remains to be seen how committed the City Council and the City are in fighting this lawsuit as far as it can go.

Taking nothing for granted, the motion to intervene we filed would allow community groups and Councilmember Marte to fight NYU’s lawsuit independently of the city — cooperating when helpful, and acting separately when needed. It would also allow us, if the courts ultimately rule that NYU must be allowed to expand in the SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown rezoning area as the city originally intended, to argue that the 2021 rezoning of the area cannot proceed without a full analysis of the impact of NYU’s potential rezoning, which was not done at the time of the rezoning.

We will keep you posted as the case moves ahead about progress and how you can help. We intend to fight the NYU expansion case and work with our allies to continue to fight other aspects of the rezoning plan.

TO HELP:

January 25, 2023

NYU Sues to Overturn Provision in SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown Upzoning that Prohibited University Facilities

Photo, right: David Brand/City Limits

Yesterday, NYU filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the provision in the recently enacted SoHo/NoHo/Chinatown Upzoning + Displacement plan that prohibits university facility expansion in the area. NYU wants an equal opportunity to displace local residents and businesses and build oversized facilities, much as the rezoning allows developers of luxury condos, high-end offices and hotels, and big-box chain stores to do. NYU is only seeking to undo this provision, rather than the entire rezoning, because the zoning that existed previously also prohibited university facilities and NYU expansion. 

The provision prohibiting university facility expansion in the zoning was added by the City Council in response to an overwhelming outcry led by Village Preservation against the rezoning plan’s allowance for NYU and other private schools to build and locate here unimpeded. We argued both that such expansion in this area was undesirable and would damage neighborhood character, and that it ran counter to the purported purpose of the rezoning to encourage affordable housing development, since private universities are exempt from the “affordable housing” provisions (which are actually quite leaky to begin with), and would compete with other uses which could produce affordable housing (especially as NYU would be allowed to develop at a greater density in many cases than other uses that could produce affordable housing). NYU specifically cited Village Preservation’s advocacy as a reason for this provision having been added. The City Council’s approval of the rezoning plan was led by Councilmembers Margaret Chin, Corey Johnson, and Carlina Rivera.

NYU argues that established case law prohibits the city from excluding university uses from this zoning area once they rezoned to allow residential use. We already know this rezoning plan was corrupt, based on false premises and data, and designed to do harm to long-time residents of this neighborhood, especially those with lower incomes or fewer resources. As the city responds to this lawsuit, we’ll see if this provision was a mere fig leaf to feign some concern for community character and a focus on affordable housing which was intended to be later removed by an NYU lawsuit, or if this provision added as a result of community pressure was genuine and sound. We are committed to fighting to ensure it stands.

April 15, 2022

Look At All We’ve Accomplished!

With an increasing flood of awful proposals coming out of City Hall in the dying days of the de Blasio Administration, it’s easy to forget all we’ve accomplished together over the years: earning landmark and zoning protections for our neighborhoods, saving historic landmarks from demolition, stopping destructive development proposals, and stopping or improving terrible plans by the City or developers.  

That’s why we’ve created a new and improved Accomplishments StoryMap, showing all that you — our members and supporters — have enabled us to do over the years. You’ll see everything from huge landmark or zoning protections covering hundreds of buildings to tiny houses saved from demolition and small but critical restoration projects. 

April 30, 2021

Borough President’s Decision on NYU Within the Week; Next Hearing April 25

With less than a week to go before the Borough President must render his decision regarding NYU’s application to overturn neighborhood zoning protections, take public land, and abrogate the terms of urban renewal agreements under which the university acquired city-owned land, it’s critical that his office continues to hear from the public to urge him to vote ‘NO’ on the projectThis is especially important given that the Borough President has decided not to hold a public hearing on the proposal, in spite of a request from GVSHP and dozens of other stakeholders to do so as he has done with other similar land use applications.  Only if these approvals are granted by city officials can NYU build its proposed 2.5 million square feet of space – the equivalent of the Empire State Building – in the blocks below Washington Square. 

HOW TO HELP:

  • Call Borough President Stringer’s office at 212/669-8300  and TELL HIM TO VOTE ‘NO’ ON THE NYU 2031 PLAN BECAUSE:
    • IT WOULD HAVE A DEVASTATING IMPACT ON THE VILLAGE
    • IT’S NOT RIGHT TO GIVE AWAY PUBLIC LAND, OVERTURN NEIGHBORHOOD ZONING PROTECTIONS, AND UNDO THE TERMS UNDER WHICH NYU WAS GIVEN THE LAND THEY NOW OWN IN THE FIRST PLACE
    • THERE ARE ALTERNATIVE LOCATIONS FOR THEIR EXPANSION THAT ARE BETTER FOR NYC AND FOR THE UNIVERSITY, SUCH AS THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT, THAT NYU REFUSES TO CONSIDER

The Borough President’s vote will be followed by a public hearing and vote by the City Planning Commission. THAT PUBLIC HEARING HAS TENTATIVELY BEEN SET FOR WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25 AT 10 AM AT THE MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN AT 1 BOWLING GREEN.  GVSHP will let you know when that hearing has been confirmed, but please hold that date on your calendar so you can attend. A strong turnout will be essential, as this may be one of only TWO public hearings before a decision is rendered on the NYU plan (and the second hearing, in the City Council, may be held in July or late June, when many fewer will be able to participate).  The Plan must be approved by both the City Planning Commission and the City Council in order to move ahead.

For more information on the NYU plan and how to fight it, CLICK HERE.

April 5, 2012