NYU landscape plan approved, but activists say they’re not satisfied

From left: Andrew Berman, Alicia Hurley and NYU

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the New York University Silver Towers landscaping plan yesterday in a unanimous vote, the school announced last night. The plan, which includes a dog run, toddler park and increased vegetation in the area, was seen as an olive branch to community activists who have opposed the school’s 2031 expansion program. But Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, said that many in the community are further angered by the landscaping plan. “In their new location, the playground and dog run will interfere with what is now the pristine view of Picasso’s Sylvette sculpture,” Berman said. “It’s a shame that in spite of receiving scores of letters in opposition to this change… the LPC chose to approve this change.” The school’s overall expansion plan, known as NYU 2031, would add about 240,000 square feet of school development per year, roughly 6 million square feet when completed. Alicia Hurley, a vice president at NYU, said that landscape approval was integral to the school’s larger expansion plan. “Today’s approval is an initial step toward NYU’s overall proposed plan for the superblocks, plans which call for adding some density but also introducing significant new landscape and open space.” TRD