NYU has a new president

[Image via NYU]

The Board of Trustees of New York University today announced the appointment of Vice Chancellor Andrew Hamilton — the University of Oxford’s senior officer, a noted chemist, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and the former Provost of Yale — as the 16th president of New York University. He will officially take up his duties in January 2016.

Professor Hamilton’s selection follows an eight-month, international search process conducted by a Search Committee of trustees, faculty, students, and administrators. The Committee — which began the search with over 200 nominees — unanimously recommended Professor Hamilton to the Board of Trustees. (NYU official new release)

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CAS senior and student member of the Presidential Search Committee Jules O’Connor said she was confident the committee had made the right choice.

“I think that he will do great things at the university and the whole committee really felt that throughout the entire process he was really the one who encompassed a lot of the qualities, if not every quality, that we were looking for: a strong leader, a great visionary, someone who is really willing and able to keep moving the university forward,” O’Connor said. (Washington Square News)

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When the new president, Andrew Hamilton, leaves his post at Oxford University to join N.Y.U. in January, he will be walking into a set of complex challenges. He will be leading a university with aggressive expansion plans, both internationally and in New York, where those plans are tied up in a court battle. (The New York Times)

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Andrew Berman, the director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and a critic of Mr. Sexton’s expansion plans, expressed cautious optimism.

“Relations between NYU and its neighbors are at an all-time low, largely over issues related to the university’s drive to expand,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine there’s any place to go but up.” (The Wall Street Journal)

NYU expansion opponents will get another day in court

"Opponents of New York University's massive expansion in Greenwich Village will get a final chance to try to block the school's plan, after the state's highest court agreed on Tuesday to hear their case." (Read the story at DNAinfo here)

Updated 3:03 p.m.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation has more about today's news here.

Former Everything Bagels space now for rent on 3rd Avenue and NYU

The for lease signs have arrived at the bagel shop, which closed earlier this year in the storefronts of NYU's Third North dorm … on Third Avenue and East 12th Street.

The listing isn't online just yet.

And as we've pointed out, this is Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's third listing here along Third Avenue … two storefronts remain for rent in the base of NYU's Alumni Hall at East Ninth Street.



Previously on EV Grieve:
NYU neighbors Just Sweet and Everything Bagels have apparently closed on 3rd Avenue

NYU neighbors Just Sweet and Everything Bagels have apparently closed on 3rd Avenue

An EVG reader tells us that both storefronts closed at the start of the New Year here in the base of NYU's Third North dorm at East 12th Street…



There aren't any closed signs… but the interiors have that gone-out-of-business look…





We echo the reader, who said "Rent hike? Lease up? Dunno."

There is an auction today at 3:30 inside the Bagels space. (Details here.)

Meanwhile down Third Avenue … two storefronts remain for rent in the base of NYU's Alumni Hall at East Ninth Street.

Updated 2:12 p.m.

Several readers noted that the auction sign, with an unfortunate typo, is now up on the door. The auction starts at 3:30.


[Photo by Dave Whitaker]

Former Birdbath space finally for rent on 3rd Avenue

Birdbath Neighborhood Green Bakery over at Third Avenue at East Ninth Street abruptly closed back in July.

Now the for rent signs have finally gone up here in the base of NYU's Alumni Hall … the listing hasn't appeared online just yet, though.

Meanwhile, the former Citi Habitats office next door remains on the market for an undisclosed sum…



The listing shows this rendering… a restaurant called Pierre…



As for Birdbath, they are opening a new location on Spring Street, BoweryBoogie reported back on Nov. 11.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Birdbath Neighborhood Green Bakery on 3rd Avenue has not been open lately

Birdbath Bakery has apparently closed for good

383 Lafayette wrapped ahead of NYU expansion

Workers have erected the sidewalk bridge and plywood around NYU's Academic Support Center (the former Tower video space) at 383 Lafayette St. at East Fourth Street.



As Curbed noted this past summer, NYU plans to expand the building, adding four new floors on the land that previously housed the Plantworks garden center these past 40 years.


[Rendering photo by Evan Bindelglass via Curbed]

Meanwhile, in other NYU expansion news on Lafayette Street, the school paid $157 million for 402-408 Lafayette Street (AKA 708 Broadway) to use as a short-term stand-in for the Coles Sports and Recreation Center. (Crunch used to be on the ground-floor before moving over to 2 Cooper Square.) NYU will use the upper floors for classrooms.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Growing soon in the former Plantworks garden center — an NYU building

Urban Etiquette Sign, sidewalk chalk edition

Spotted this message outside an apartment building on East Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C...

Coming and going on 3rd Avenue

OK, let's see … as noted back in July, a GNC is taking over the former East Hardware space at 79 Third Ave. The GNC sign arrived a few weeks ago. More recently, the signage went up next door at East 11th Street for Heavenly Market & Deli.

And in other NYU dorm storefront news … Citi Habitats moved out of 37 Third Ave. maybe at the end of June (don't think we ever noted it…) … the space remains on the market for an undisclosed sum. (The listing notes no bars or businesses to compete with its neighbors, like Subway and Saint's Alp Teahouse.) And next door at East Ninth Street, the brown paper now covers the gutted Birdbath Neighborhood Green Bakery space.

3rd Avenue, 8:34 a.m., Aug. 24

Move-In Day at NYU.

Tomorrow is Opening Day at the NYU Dorms

Just FYI you know. In case your plans were taking you anywhere near Third Avenue, East 14th Street, Bed, Bath & Beyond, etc.

Have a good weekend!

A letter from a 21-year-old NYU student: 'We are not all the same'

[Rather random photo of 2nd Avenue by EVG the other morning]

From the EVG inbox...

I am a dedicated reader and appreciator of your blog. I am also 21, have lived in the neighborhood for less than two years, and am, in the eyes of many, part of the East Village's central problem. I have always wanted to voice my opinion on this matter, as it is one on which I feel very strongly, and such a feeling is only ever heightened after I read the many user comments on Grieve.

I recognize fully how the influx of young, yuppie college students and 20-somethings has dramatically altered the neighborhood, but I want to defend myself and say that while I can easily be grouped into this category (and I'm not arguing it — 21-year-old NYU student living in an over-priced apartment that still happens to be cheaper than living in an NYU dorm), I have found myself resenting this more and more.

Before I moved into an apartment (versus a dorm) in the East Village, I did my research. I investigated the shady and unlawful landlords, corrupt management companies to avoid, the best small businesses around the apartments I was considering, and the like.

As an 11th Street resident, I protested 7-Eleven when it arrived, I devote all my business to the local deli beneath my apartment, and I agree that many things happening in this neighborhood regarding rent, landlords, what have you, are truly absurd.

However rambling this may seem, I just want to give a voice to those younger residents who consider themselves to be on the same page. We are not all the same — I don't get belligerently drunk and hang off of fire escapes, I don't scoff at the rent-stabilized tenants in my building, I don't ignore my super and the other supers on the block. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I recognized immediately upon moving here that in order to make the most of the two years I'd be spending on this street, I would have to earn some respect by developing relationships with the people who've been here the longest and are truly residents of this neighborhood.

I also recognized that this is, in many ways, just how the growth of a city unfolds. My entire family grew up in a building on Christopher Street beginning in the 1940s, and they were priced out far before gentrification was a term being thrown around. While I did not live through the gentrification of this neighborhood, I can appreciate the good and bad it has done.

All I am trying to say in the end is that I want to enjoy and appreciate the East Village's quirks and unique charm as much as those who have resided here for decades, not drunkenly puke all over them in the early hours of a Saturday morning.

Sincerely,
Olivia
11th Street Resident

We asked Olivia why she finally decided to write this. The post Monday about the "obnoxious drunk girl" who threw up in her lobby and left a note and the post from July 20 about the game of truth or dare that ended with a fall helped inspire her.

Report: Growing soon in the former Plantworks garden center — an NYU building

The 40-year-old Plantworks at 28. E. Fourth St. between the Bowery and Lafayette closed for business in May, and the adjacent garden center shuttered last month.

Now Curbed has the scoop what's coming next:

NYU, which leased the lot to the garden center, wants to do a massive renovation of its Academic Support Center at 383 Lafayette Street and expand it into the East 4th Street lot.

The expanded building will rise 4 floors on the former Garden Center property.


[Rendering photo by Evan Bindelglass via Curbed]

The Landmarks Preservation Commission heard the pitch for the renovated 383 Lafayette building (previously home to Tower Video) and annex yesterday.

And their reaction?

New LPC chair Meenakshi Srinivasan said there was much that was positive about the proposal and that restoration and enlargement of the existing building would be "helpful" to the area.

The LPC was reportedly close to approving the project, but asked for a few modifications.

This stretch of East Fourth Street will be active again with construction, with NYU and the new 8-floor hotel to rise next to the Merchant's House Museum.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Plantworks 'probably closing and not moving'

[Updated] NYU student jumps to his death from 3rd Avenue dorm

According to published reports, an NYU freshman killed himself after jumping off the roof of the Third North dorm on Third Avenue and East 11th Street early this morning.

NYU released this statement through spokesperson John Beckman:

"It is with great sorrow that we report that a freshman was found in an interior courtyard in the residence hall where he lived. It appears as though his death occurred as a result of a fall from the roof of the building; police and the University are looking into events preceding the discovery of the body in order to determine the cause and nature of his death."

The university has not released the name of the student. Spring 2014 classes begin today at NYU.

Updated 11:40 p.m.

According to the Daily News, citing police sources and fellow students, the 18-year-old victim "was stark naked and apparently high on mushrooms when he plummeted 15 floors to his death."

Report: FDNY rescues partygoers from 2nd Avenue 'rooftop rager' after stairwell collapse injures 1

[Photo by Marc A Hermann for the Daily News]

From the Daily News today:

A rooftop rager dissolved into a rescue mission in the East Village early Sunday morning, when a stairway platform crumbled, leaving one man seriously injured after he plunged two stories and trapping more than 30 collegiate partygoers on the roof, authorities said.

Over 30 college-aged revelers had gathered on the roof of 159 2nd Avenue at E. 9 St. in the lower East Side on Saturday night for a moonlit soiree, witnesses said.

Also, the building is at East 10th Street, not 9th Street per the Daily News.

The injured student is in critical but stable condition at Bellevue.

And the reaction from the assembled revelers?

"We were having a party, just a bunch of people hanging out ... Some guy runs upstairs and says, 'Everyone quiet down, everyone shut the f--k up , someone might have died,'" said Martin Barshai, 20, a film student at New York University.

According to WABC 7: "Officials say the building has a lot of college aged students in the building that do a lot of 'partying.'"

Here is WABC's report:



The Post has a lot of photos here. Their headline: "NYU rager goes horribly wrong after roof collapse"

Updated 9-30

The Post reports today that an NYU student jumped on the landing, causing it to collapse, according to unnamed sources.

Meanwhile in the Northwest East Village ...

You know, over on East 13th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...

Anyway! A photo of an Urban Etiquette Sign via EVG reader Kelly Virginia Vinson ...

"Dear Friends,

Don't let your douchebag NYU friends sit on the stoop all day long..."

Bonus points for making the NYU look really angry.

Previously on EV Grieve:
About the 'Northwest East Village'

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.

Citi Bikes docking stations arrive at NYU

Via EVG reader Jeffrey Borenstein...

Developing: Accident involving NYU bus at Lafayette and East 4th Street

Just after 9 ... on East Fourth Street and Lafayette... details are scarce right at the moment... so we don't know exactly how the NYU bus ended up on the sidewalk next to Astor Wines ... photos via EVG reader Brad212...









More details as they become available...

Updated 10 a.m.:

Via Community Board 3 member Chad Marlow:

"I passed by the NYU bus this morning. Couldn't get too close because my kids were with me and it didn't look good. The bus definitely collided pretty violently with a black car (not certain if private or livery). When I passed by there were two fire trucks and at least one ambulance on the scene. It looked like the firefighters were making an effort to prey open the black car."

Updated 10:05 a.m.:

NYU Local is working on the story. Per their post: According to a user on Facebook, the bus "looks like it was sideswiped by a car on Lafayette. Windows shattered, Toyota bumper was laying on the sidewalk."

Noted

Spotted outside Alumni Hall, Third Avenue and East Ninth Street...

At John Penley's NYU protest

This afternoon, longtime activist John Penley started his campout to call on NYU to help house the homeless.

Bobby Williams stopped by to see what was happening...