It seems that NYU has learned a valuable lesson from the whole Cooper Square debacle when dealing with those durned preservationists: Keep it all secret and lie; that way no one will object when another piece of NY history is gutted.
From The Villager 12/21/04...
"Asked if N.Y.U. had any interest in the property, university spokesperson John Beckman said, "We've had no conversation about this. Nobody has approached us about this. I'm not going to get into these hypotheticals. I think we need to get out of the habit of, every time a piece of property changes hands in the neighborhood," assuming N.Y.U. is involved, Beckman said. "When N.Y.U. is having serious discussions about acquiring or leasing a property, we inform the community," he continued. "And that's how it's been and that's how it's going to be going forward."
Right.
The sad fact is that there is a major building boom going on all over Manhattan, and buildings that are an important part of our history are being torn down right and left. Witness the fight to save old PS 64 on East 9th Street, and that's still going on...
In my neck of the woods, though no historical structures have been ravaged yet, every available bit of land is being built on to create (surprise, surprise) even more million dollar + condos; I guess they will house those NYU students after they graduate.
Don't get me wrong, I am all for change and progress. But this is a free-for-all. There's not an iota of sensible city planning in any of it. And it's all been given a rubber stamp by our City Administration. This should definitely become an issue in the upcoming election. And I cannot wait to see Bloomberg's final plan for the "revitalization" of the Lower East Side Waterfront. Bah!