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Purple People Eaters

By Stephen Jacob Smith 5/07 3:35pm

Purple People Eaters

You'd never guess it, but Vanderbilt Hall was actually build in the '50s.

You Win Some, You Lose Some: NYU Checked in South Village, Approved for Expansion in NoHo

If you thought that the war over New York University’s expansion in and around the Greenwich Village was over, think again: the university’s banner “NYU 2031″ plan to add infill buildings to its superblock may be over (okay, well, almost over), but skirmishes continue on the periphery, and two battles that broke out over the past week showing no sign of abating.

The first battle involved the new South Village historic district, which preservationists wanted to go hand-in-hand with  the Hudson Square rezoning. Preservationists claimed that the rezoning, in addition to endowing property owners with millions of square feet of residential development rights in exchange for ensuring that nothing like the Trump SoHo would ever happen again, would imperil the unprotected historic neighborhood next door. Read More

By Stephen Jacob Smith 2/19 11:56am

Purple People Eaters

The Marron Institute won't quite rule them all.

Marron Institute: One NYU Urban Studies Center to Rule Them All

New York City urbanists could be forgiven for experiencing a bit of déjà vu last week when New York University announced the launch of the Marron Institute on Cities and the Urban Environment. The new center, made possible by a $40 million gift from financier billionaire Donald B. Marron, will join a panoply of urban studies centers at the university, and be headed up by Richard Revesz, whose tenure as dean of NYU School of Law ends in May.

Speaking by phone with The Observer, Mr. Revesz said that the Marron Institute will lead three subordinate, already-existing NYU programs: the Center for Urban Science and Progress, the Institute for Public Knowledge and the Urbanization Project. Read More