NYU floats new Downtown Brooklyn tower plans

New York University is mulling a new, 41-story tower for its new Brooklyn campus, next to its existing Polytechnic University affiliate on Jay Street near Myrtle Avenue. The school released images of the planned tower as part of its massive expansion plan in the city, cautiously calling it a “massing illustration” rather than a “rendering,” according to the Brooklyn Paper. The skyline-changing tower, of which the first 28 floors would be reserved for academic facilities and the top floors would be leased as offices to a non-university company, is possible because the school acquired air rights from buildings nearby, including from Polytechnic. But NYU would rather build several smaller buildings that would require city approvals, whereas the tower — which the Brooklyn Paper calls a negotiating ploy — does not. “[The tower is] not what we’re proposing. We’re not saying that’s what we want to have happen,” an NYU spokesperson said. [Brooklyn Paper]