Council expected to pass NYU expansion Wednesday

The City Council is expected to approve a plan Wednesday to let NYU expand its Greenwich Village campus by nearly 2 million square feet.

The council's land use committee OKed a modified version of NYU's "2031" plan last week, which reduced the size of the university's massive expansion -- albeit not enough to appease local residents -- and sent it to the full council for a vote. If approved, NYU plans to erect four new buildings for academic space and housing.

The council likely has enough votes to pass it, sources said Tuesday.

"The plan before the council strikes a good balance, enabling NYU to build on its own property to create academic space to fulfill its teaching and research missions over the next two decades while taking account of the concerns of our neighbors, such providing more accessible open space for the larger Greenwich Village community," NYU spokesman John Beckman said in an email.

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, said the group is looking at legal action if the council approves the "outrageous" plan.

"We're still hoping that the council will listen to the thousands of New Yorkers and the vast majority of New York University staff and workers that have urged them to reject the plan," he said Tuesday.