Last week, NYU filed an application to construct a fourth tower in University Village on the Silver Towers site and renovate the surrounding area as part of NYU Plans 2031.
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Now, as the university waits for approval, Village residents are reacting to news that scaffolding may be going up near their homes soon.
Community Board 2, which includes the neighborhoods of Greenwich Village, SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown, has held dozens of meetings over the last three years about NYU's expansion plans.
Bob Gormley, district manager for the board, noted that like past proposals, the new tower was not receiving positive feedback from residents.
"I'm pretty sure that people are all around very skeptical and probably critical of NYU's proposal," he said.
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation is one of the groups opposed to NYU's plans.
"We are adamantly opposed to the plan, which we believe is totally inappropriate," said Andrew Berman, the society's executive director. "We fought very hard and successfully to get the Silver Towers complex landmarked, which should mean no changes or new development except in the most exceptional of circumstances."
Berman thought the new building would ruin the design concept of the original three buildings and block the view of the unique public outdoor Picasso sculpture situated in the middle of the Silver Towers site.
"The tower cannot be built unless it gets extraordinary approvals from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, removes long-standing neighborhood open space zoning protections and lifts of urban renewal restrictive deeds, which are supposed to prevent any construction here until at least 2021," Berman said.
Chris Shook, an employee of Mercer Street Books & Records, thinks the new tower may threaten the stability of local shops.
"However long it takes to build a big construction site across the street isn't a good thing, and when it's done, this block becomes theoretically more attractive to product stores," he said. "People will be willing to pay a lot more rent."
Village resident Rodolfo Gomez predicted the future construction will be "disastrous."
"Obviously I'm going to move if they start constructing here," he said.
Another resident, Cy O'Neal, said, "It means losing the beautiful community garden, it means losing our wonderful dog run and the playground. All these things give this neighborhood real quality and character, and to have them gobbled up by NYU is heartbreaking. One does hope that the powers that be will not let it happen."
But Village resident Marianne O'Rourke said she is not concerned about the plans as long as she has a place to walk her dog.
"[The towers] are already there, what's the difference if there's another one?" she said.
At the NoHo Juice Bar and Deli on Mercer Street, employee Mohamed Ali sees the possible positive influence of the new towers.
"It might help business, but I think it looks fine the way it is," he said.
