"This is a complex ruling, but the judgment is a very positive one for NYU: five of the six petitioners claims were dismissed, and most importantly the judge's ruling allows us to move forward with our first planned project -- the facility to provide new academic space on the site of our current gym.
But the petitioners and their lawyers are wrong and over-reaching in the claims they are now making that this ruling would stop us from building on the gym site, or that the proposals must be resubmitted to the City Council through another ULURP. The Court did not vacate the City Council’s ULURP approval and specifically rejected petitioners’ claim that the street adjoining the gym site is a park.
"Our decisions about that facility will be guided by the faculty-led University Space Priorities Working Group, which in its draft report affirmed the need for additional academic space. Its final report is expected in the coming weeks.
"The decision reaffirms the ULURP approval by the City Council. Once we have a chance to thoroughly review the decision with our planning team and determine the precise impact of the ruling on our ability to implement other elements of the plan, we will work with the City, as lead respondent, to determine our next legal steps." —NYU Spokesman John Beckman