NYU buys dorm on Cooper Square that everyone already thought was an NYU dorm

According to published reports, NYU bought the dorm at 35 Cooper Square at Sixth Street for $69.2 million. 

Marymount Manhattan College (MMC) had occupied the 13-floor residence hall since August 2015. (The building includes retail tenants Librae Bakery and Meet Fresh bubble tea.)

Despite multiple reports about Marymount leasing the space dating back 10 years, some residents thought it belonged to NYU's East Village dorm empire. 

Well, it does now... as the NYU branding is already at the entrance...

The deal is joint venture between two Midtown-based real estate firms, Sherwood Equities and Bhatia Development, Crain's and PincusCo reported. 

MMC's lease was reportedly terminated last month. This seemed like a bit of a hike for students of the private liberal arts college, which has its main campus on the Upper East Side.

Upon the dorm's grand opening nine years ago, 199 MMC students moved in, per a school news release at the time. The additional 73 spots were contracted out to Cooper Union. 

The dorm sits on a lot previously occupied in part by 35 Cooper Square, the Federal-style building dating back to 1825. The closing of the Asian Pub in January 2011 at 35 Cooper Square set in motion a sequence of events that led to the demolition of the historic building in 2011, despite pleas from community activists and preservationists. 

Neighbors weren't so supportive of all this, leaving signs calling developer Arun Bhatia "a destroyer of East Village history." 

Crain's has more about NYU's real-estate empire: 

NYU is considered one of the city's largest and wealthiest landlords, and, like other private colleges, it benefits from tax exemptions on its real estate. Last year NYU acquired a Kips Bay apartment building​​ for $210 million — one of 2023's priciest transactions. And the total assessed value of NYU's holdings is about $1.8 billion, just below Columbia University's total, but NYU is taxed on just $120 million of that, thus enjoying nearly $1.7 billion in savings, according to a Crain's analysis in a piece from last fall headlined "City loses $788 million in property taxes as private colleges eat up 25M square feet of land."

Previously on EV Grieve: 

• 35 Cooper Square, 'this much-beloved little building,' dies at age 186

Welcome NYU, now Stop, Drop and Go

Today is NYU Freshman Move-In Day and the NYU Welcomes You event for students and parents. Which means a lot of things.



Like, for instance, it might be a really bad time to go to Bed, Bath & Beyond. (Not that there's ever a good time to go there. But detergent is detergent.)



And, as always, words to live by. Stop Drop and Go.

Construction mishap turns NYU dorm into a concrete jungle

There's news to report about the incoming 16-story building coming to 133 Third Ave., just north of Third Avenue...

Some sort of construction mishap on Dec. 5 "accidentally sent wet concrete oozing through a wall and into an NYU dorm next door," according to a report yesterday on DNAinfo. The ooze reportedly damaged the rooms of three students on the dorm's fourth floor. NYU has repaired the rooms, though the students have decided to stay for the time in their alternative housing.

As a result, per DNA:

The owner of the building leased by NYU for use as the Coral Towers dorms is seeking $1 million in damages from developer McArthur Morgan, LLC and a permanent end to construction at 133 Third Ave.

Maybe we can bring back that addendum to Jam Envelope & Paper?

[H/T Curbed ... above photo from two weeks ago]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Another high rise rising on 14th Street and Third Avenue

Rejected posts from 2011: New NYU outdoor swimming pool coming along

Yes, there's a reason the EV Grieve editorial board rejected this one. And others.

Update on the NYU dorm move-in day

Hurricane Irene pushed NYU's dorm move-in day from yesterday to today... As of 9:30 a.m., things were still quiet... people were smiling, welcoming, ambassadoring... parents didn't look too stressed out... no epic dad meltdowns about all the crap he has to haul... Still early, of course...

Perhaps we'll check back in later...

Forces of nature: Hurricane Irene forces NYU to change dorm move-in day to Monday

NYU students were originally scheduled to move into the dorms on Sunday. However, as I exclusively reported, Hurricane Irene is also expected to arrive around the same time.

So, NYU officials pushed the date back. Per the NYU statement:

NYU has changed Move-In Day to Monday, Aug 29; while this may cause some inconvenience, we believe this is the course that will best ensure the safety of our new and returning students. Students will not be allowed to move in before Monday, and should make appropriate adjustments in their travel schedules; services usually provided to students beginning Sunday will not start until Monday.

So, Monday would be a good idea to avoid the Third Avenue Dorm Region... not to mention Trader Joe's, Bed, Bath and Beyond ... Surprise Surprise ... to name a few... You may add other locales in the comments..

Slacktivist leader to NYU: We have had enough

In response to some earlier NYU-related news today.... A message from Slacktivist leader John Penley:

Attention NYU students: Tell your University We have had enough! Can't take no more. I have decided to organize a protest against out of control NYU dorm expansion. No date set yet... Tell people who support this to friend me on Facebook. Slactivists are gonna be at Washington Square Park. Count on it !!!!!!

Penley's Facebook page is here.

Report: NYU enrollment up 33 percent since 1990

From the Post today:

Cachet trumps cash.

Despite the downturn in the economy, New York University -- one of the priciest colleges in the county -- enrolled its largest student body in decades this year, school officials told The Post.

Just as the recession sent record numbers of students to New York's more affordable public colleges, the vaunted Greenwich Village school saw its highest enrollment since at least 1990 -- the most recent year for which data was readily available, according to school officials.

The upswing comes at a time when annual tuition, room and board at NYU hit nearly $52,000.

More than 21,600 undergraduates enrolled at NYU this school year -- up nearly 400 from last year -- while more than 18,200 graduate students enrolled -- a one-year spike of nearly 800 enrollees.

Overall since 1990, the school's enrollment has surged by an impressive 33 percent -- or roughly 10,000 students.

Jeez, we're going to need more dorms! And bars! (For those of-age students who choose to go out, of course...)

16 hours on 12th Street

Just taking one last look at yesterday's NYU move in on 12th Street...the site of the former St. Ann's church....



Best moment maybe ever: An SUV pulls up, the man behind the wheel next to his daughter yells to an NYU security guard on the sidewalk, "Excuse me, do you speak English?!"



Anyway, at least the neighbors were prepped...



Previously on EV Grieve:
NYU students are REALLY moving in! NYU students are REALLY moving in!

NYU students are moving in! NYU students are moving in!

NYU students are REALLY moving in! NYU students are REALLY moving in!

Whoa. EV Grieve reader Eric checks in from the new 12th Street Dorm (that sort of incorporated St. Ann's...)... This is where the action is!





Previously on EV Grieve:
NYU students are moving in! NYU students are moving in!

P.S.
This reminds me that I watched "The Swarm" the other night. Good, unintentional hilarity!

NYU students are moving in! NYU students are moving in!

Welcome Week kicks off tomorrow at NYU. Today, students continue to move into the East Village-area dorms....

I spotted license plates from New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Illinois...





The school's "Welcome Ambassadors" were spotted welcoming people on Third Avenue.





Some of the dads seemed understandably stressed out and annoyed. So I've organized a "I'm Helping My Kid Move Into the Dorms" Pub Crawl. See you at the Pourhouse!

200 Water Street now leasing

Following up on my post a few weeks back...when I noted that NYU had packed up and left the Water Street dorm in the Financial District.





And Rockrose has a new Web site for the property — luxury rentals...but no details. But hey — the rooms are good enough for NYU students! And a commenter noticed the following:

Taking a closer look at that poster, I'm thinking she almost looks like she's preparing to fellate that bridge. What makes no sense whatsoever, though, is that it's the Manhattan Bridge. Where do they think 200 Water Street is ... Chinatown? DUMBO?

Meanwhile, RR is changing all the lightbulbs...

NYU de-dorms 200 Water St.; preps the 12th Street residence hall

As we noted yesterday, NYU plans on expanding into parts of New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Well, there are plans for developing up to 6 million square feet of additional space by 2031 in the area around Washington Square Park.

Meanwhile, what else is happening in the NYU dorm world? First, 200 Water St. in the the Financial District is getting de-dormed. Since 1998, NYU has housed some 1,200 students in these 32 floors. As the Times reported on April 3, 1998, the building went up in 1971 as an office tower for the securities and insurance industry. It was converted from office space to residential space for NYU by the Rockrose Development Corporation.

The decision to lease the Water Street building comes as part of the university's drive to provide housing for a student body that includes fewer New York residents than ever before.

"Ten years ago, half of a typical freshman class was from New York," said John Beckman, a spokesman for NYU. "Now that is about 20 percent."

According to the Water Street home page, "Our theme for the 2008 – 2009 year is "Leave your Watermark" inspired by Water Street’s last year as an NYU residence hall." What's going in this space? Not sure! (According to a commenter here, Rockrose is converting the units to rentals.) But at least they have that new Duane Reade anchoring Fulton and Water. So the students will be moved to other dorms closer to campus.




In recent weeks, all the old dorm mattresses -- hope the students didn't leave their watermarks here! -- were stacked up in the lobby at 200 Water St. and carted off to...




... I don't know, perhaps the new eyesore called the 12th Street dorm that sort of, but not really incorporated the façade of St. Ann's into the residence hall's entrance. This 26-floor dorm between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue will house 700 freshman starting this August.



Here are a few of the articles The Villager has done on the 12th Street dorm in recent years.

See you at the Village Pourhouse in August kids!

The following photos are presented without comment

Move-in day for some NYU students. At 11th Street and Third Avenue. Sunday morning.

Thinking the same thing: NYU dorm!

Funny, how we all had the same thought a few weeks back when we noticed the bodega on the southeast corner of 14th Street and 3rd Avenue and adjoining businesses were vacated. (The bodega just moved around the corner.) Given the proximity of still-kinda-new NYU dorms...well, we'll let Scoopy take over at The Villager in his column this week:

The corner screams out, “Development site!” and more specifically, “Another N.Y.U. dorm!” After all, the location is right in the middle of N.Y.U.’s E. 14th St. dormitory nexus. But Kelly Franklin, an N.Y.U. spokesperson, told us, “We have not been looking at this site nor has anyone approached us about it.”

I would like to add: YET.