New 11-story, Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed building will rise on First Avenue to house schools of nursing and dentistry, as well as a new bioengineering program. Work to begin in spring.

New York University unveiled designs Wednesday for the new home of its nursing and dental schools, as well as a new bioengineering program. All will be moving to First Avenue at East 26th Street, along what is known as Manhattan’s health corridor. The new facility is part of the university’s ambitious expansion plans dubbed NYU 2031.

The 11-story, state-of-the-art facility, planned for 433 First Ave., will be 170,000-square-feet large and 183-feet high, according to an NYU spokesman. The previous building on the site, which was used for administrative and academic office for the school’s College of Dentistry, was demolished in September.

“A large portion of the building was not used and the building was deteriorating,” said the spokesman.

Construction of the new property is slated to begin in the spring. Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates is designing the exterior, while EYP Architecture & Engineering is working on the interior design.

When the facility is complete, NYU’s nursing school will move from its current home in Greenwich Village. There will also be space for a new multi-school bioengineering program and an expanded dental school. It is slated to open in 2015. NYU declined to say how much the new building will cost, but published reports pegged it at roughly $140 million.

Plans for NYU’s new health-corridor building have drawn little opposition in contrast to those for the school’s expansion in Greenwich Village. The university released the design a day after announcing that it had officially started the public review process to add 3 million square feet to its campus in Greenwich Village and areas around Washington Square Park.

In order to proceed with much of its growth plans there, NYU needs city zoning approvals. NYU had wanted to begin that process, which takes up to seven months, by the end of last year, but at the request of Community Board 2 it decided to postpone the move until after the New Year.

The university’s 2031 expansion plans have been opposed by preservationists and some local community groups in Greenwich Village, who believe that NYU is overbuilding in the neighborhood. A town hall meeting hosted by Community Board 2, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Community Action Alliance on NYU 2031 and more than 50 local community groups from Greenwich Village, SoHo, Chelsea and Union Square is scheduled for Wednesday evening. There a number of opponents are expected to speak out against NYU.

Source: Crain’s