East 12th Street Dorm / St. Ann’s Church
In late 2005, NYU announced plans to build a 26-story mega-dorm on the site of the demolished St. Ann’s Church, on East 12th Street between 3rd and 4th Avenues. While Village Preservation and neighbors expressed extreme concern about the plan, NYU publicly pledged to handle this building project “differently” than those in the past, and to take the concerns expressed by the community about this project and try to integrate them into the final design plan. After providing NYU with such feedback — particularly concerns about the size and height of the project — Village Preservation and neighbors waited to hear back from NYU about the status of the plan, and what decisions had been made. Over the months, inquiries to NYU about the status of the project received no response.
Then in late July 2006, Village Preservation and neighbors found out that, without informing them, NYU had filed building plans for the project and was beginning construction. After getting copies of the building plans from the Department of Buildings, Village Preservation and neighbors were shocked to discover that NYU had not made a single change to the design plan, and that if anything the building would be taller than NYU had originally led the public to believe.