CURRENT PROJECT

This will be the home of NYU's Center for Academic and Spiritual Life, which will include spaces for religious observances, offices for NYU's Chaplains' Circle, classes, music rehearsals, conferences, and will include space for an ongoing Catholic presence.

Work on the foundations will begin in Fall 2009 with construction projected to be completed by Summer 2012.

Staging will take place primarily along West 3rd Street and Thompson Street. During Phase II of construction a lane will be closed on Thompson Street to make room for a crane and other equipment needed to construct the building.

The first phase will be excavation and pouring of the new foundation. The second phase will be the installation of steel and construction of the exterior shell of the building. The third phase will be the build out of the interior floors. The fourth phase will be completing the final touches to the building such as painting and installation of flooring and fixtures.

Yes, the Center of Academic and Spiritual Life will be LEED Silver.

During the removal process, contractors take several precautions to minimize dispersal of asbestos fibers, including wetting the materials and sealing the building's ventilation system. The contractors place the wet asbestos debris in specially marked bags. Before bringing them out of the abatement area, the sealed bags of debris are washed and then placed in secondary bags that are also marked "Asbestos-Containing Materials". The sealed bags are placed in locked dumpster inside the building before being transported to a secure landfill that accepts asbestos waste. Only the abatement contractors are allowed to enter the abatement area once the project begins.

During the abatement, contractors wear disposable suits, hoods, gloves, shoe covers and respirators. Between the abatement area and the non-abatement area, there is a clean-up/decontamination area where the contractors remove their protective clothing before entering the clean zone. At no time does a worker exit the abatement area without properly decontaminating himself/herself.

Asbestos abatement regulations require the University to hire a third party firm to conduct continuous air testing for asbestos outside of the abatement area, clearance testing after the area has been cleaned up, and before the area may be reoccupied.

During Phase II of construction a lane on Thompson Street will be closed to make room for a crane and other large equipment needed to construct the building. A lane for traffic will remain open as well as the pedestrian sidewalk on the west side of Thompson Street. There may be temporary lane closures on W. 3rd Street, but this will be dependent on scope of work and schedule.

The University has explored various options and believes this is the best solution for the site, which follows the principles which call for "contextual development that is sensitive to building heights, densities and materials"; and "thoughtful urban and architectural design". NYU is committed to a public review even though this is an "as-of-right" project. In addition, the building is not being built to the full FAR (available square footage). Furthermore this project engaged the community early and often during design and held several pre-construction meetings with various constituents.

Please check back as the website will be updated regularly with news and announcements regarding the project. You can also be added to our monthly construction e-mail list or request to receive regular communications about this project by emailing community.affairs@nyu.edu.

Please contact the Office of Construction Management's FCM Helpdesk at 212.998.1001 or regular communications about this project by emailing fcm.helpdesk@nyu.edu.

Staging will take place primarily along West 3rd Street and Thompson Street. During Phase II of construction a lane will be closed on Thompson Street to make room for a crane and other equipment needed to construct the building.