NYU Plans Massive Expansion as Enrollment Grows

New York University is having a growth spurt.

The college is proposing a massive expansion -- its largest in history -- over the next 20 years to accommodate growing enrollment and better compete with other universities for money and catchet.
       
The proposal calls for a new tower on Bleecker Street and 3 million square feet of new offices, dormitories and classrooms in the Greenwich Village area. It also includes a new engineering school in Brooklyn and a satellite campus on Governors Island.
       
The projects, which would expand NYU's physical plant by 40 percent, still need approval from city agencies.
       
They've already been met with concern from some neighbors and preservationists worried about overwhelming the historic area. And the city's top economic development official says there's no guarantee the plan will get approved.

"They've been deliberate and thoughtful," Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber told The New York Times. "That doesn't mean it's all going to go exactly as they intended. There's lots of opportunity for discussion here."
       
NYU says it needs to expand to keep up in today's collegiate environment, and said it took the time to devise a detailed proposal that takes neighbors' concerns and architectural quality into account.

"It's clear that NYU had a history of moving forward without listening," NYU president John Sexton told the Times. "What this process allowed us to do is take advantage of the wisdom that's out there."
       
The plan will be formally introduced at a series of events in April.

The number of students living in NYC housing tripled to 12,000 between 1991 and 2001, and school officials expect the total student body to reach 46,500 by 2031, up from the current 41,000, reports the Times.