NYU “optimistic” on Village expansion plans

State's highest court heard arguments Tuesday from university, opposition groups

John Sexton NYU Expansion
NYU President John Sexton and a rendering of the university's expansion plan

New York University is “optimistic” that the state’s Highest Court will rule in favor of its ambitious Greenwich Village expansion plans.

The New York Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Tuesday from lawyers for the university, the city and a coalition of groups opposing NYU’s $6 billion proposed expansion. The plan would add almost 2 million square feet of space to the university’s Greenwich Village campus over several decades.

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The Court of Appeals heard arguments over whether four strips of land within the proposed expansion area are city parks protected from development. NYU “is optimistic about a positive ruling,” the university said in a statement.

The Court of Appeals did not indicate when it might rule. NYU’s plans were halted last January when a Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled that the expansion required approval from the state legislature, but the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division overturned that ruling in October. [AP]Rey Mashayekhi