Mike Akerly, Esq. and Kate Akerly - Manhattan & Brooklyn Real Estate

By Kevin Korber of Village Confidential

Squatting is one of the stranger aspects of the occasionally anarchic history of the East Village. The neighborhood is home to C-Squat, the infamous reclaimed building on Avenue C between 9^th and 10^th Streets that was one of the targets of former mayor Rudy Giuliani’s war against squatters. However, as the neighborhood that surrounds places like C-Squat or ABC No Rio in the Lower East Side becomes more upscale, people associated with the squatter’s movement are taking steps to preserve a fading element of New York City’s history.

Soon, C-Squat will become home to the Museum of Reclaimed Space, a museum dedicated to archiving the creation of community spaces from abandoned buildings. The museum, which was the subject of a recent New York Times profile, will also cover community spaces and their uses throughout the city. Aside from squats, the Museum of Reclaimed Space also offers tours of community gardens and spaces reclaimed for art or performance.

While the Museum of Reclaimed Space is not yet opened, trial-run tours are offered on dates announced on their web site. Anyone interested in volunteering or donating to the museum can also do so at www.morusnyc.org.

By Kevin Korber of Village Confidential

Well-known East Village hot spot Nevada Smith’s recently left its old 3^rd Avenue location under unusual circumstances, leaving the fate of the building that once housed it uncertain. Nevada Smith’s owner Patrick McCarthy spoke of plans to “demolish most of the block and replace our place…with a new luxury apartment block.” As it turns out, McCarthy may have been right: The Local reports that the bar’s former 3^rd Avenue location is poised to become the next project from ubiquitous architect Karl Fischer.

Fischer has made his presence in the Village very well-known in recent years, with buildings at Bowery and East Houston Street, as well as an upcoming project on East 12^th Street. According to a plan rejected by the Department of Buildings, Fischer was looking to turn the former Nevada Smith’s into an 82,000 square foot, nine-story tower with retail space and 94 condos. However, the filed plans were disapproved by the Department of Buildings because of zoning issues, according to a DOB spokesperson.

Fischer filed new plans with the DOB in February; those plans are currently “in process.” Neither Fischer nor the construction company attached to the project opted to comment on the issue at this time.

As for Nevada Smith’s, it moved to a new location at 100 1^st Avenue last week.

In a unanimous vote taken last Thursday, Community Board 2 soundly rejected the expansion plans NYU had proposed for its Greenwich Village campus.

The university had little hope for acquiring the CB’s approval; community opposition to the NYU expansion plans has been both loud and plentiful. Community groups gathered before the meeting to protest NYU’s actions alongside students and teachers who disagree with the university’s position.

Among the concerns voiced over the NYU expansion plan is the scope of the project; projected construction time for the “superblocks” bordered by Mercer Street, LaGuardia Place, West 3^rd Street and West Houston Street is 20 years. Local preservationist groups have also raised concern over the relative ease with which the university was allowed to get city zoning requirements waived.

Still others felt that the plan would overcrowd a neighborhood already filled with college students.

The expansion of the Greenwich Village campus is part of NYU: 2031, a massive and ambitious expansion project for the university that includes projects in Midtown East as well as Downtown Brooklyn.

The CB vote, while encouraging for NYU’s opponents, is only advisory in nature. The university is currently in the middle of a Uniform Land Use Review process that culminates with a yea-or-nay vote from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

By Kevin Korber of Village Confidential

Since the Starbucks that once stood there was closed and demolished, there’s been a fair speculation as to what would go up at 51 Astor Place. Designer Edward Minskoff revealed his designs to Curbed and EV Grieve back in June of last year which revealed a black glass and granite office tower with retail space on the ground floor. However, aside from one released rendering of the building’s exterior, 51 Astor Place remained something of a mystery even as construction began in July of 2011.

Last Wednesday, we got a better idea of what Minskoff’s new building will look like when the building’s new website debuted. The site provides a layout for 51 Astor Place complete with projected floor dimensions and designated uses for specific spaces. The basement and ground floor of the building have been designated for retail purposes, while offices will fill the other 11 floors of the building. The 5^th floor also features a rooftop garden. The ground floor also has a 13,000 square foot space designated for educational purposes. The site also includes renderings of the building’s exterior, office lobby, and fifth floor office (right next to the rooftop garden.)

Construction on 51 Astor Place is projected to be finished by early 2013.

NYU’s controversial expansion plans have been debated for the better part of a year now. The aggressive proposal calls for two blocks south of the current NYU campus in Greenwich Village to be converted into “superblocks” consisting of large new faculty buildings, student housing, and a new elementary school that may or may not have funding. The university expects to finish the project in 2031.

Reaction among Village residents to the NYU expansion plans has been loud and mostly hostile. Community board meetings on the subject have been filled with dissenting voices, and various demonstrations have been held in protest of the plan. One more is going to be held this Thursday at St. Anthony of Padua Church on Sullivan and Houston Streets to coincide with Community Board 2’s vote on the NYU expansion plans, also occurring at St. Anthony’s. The protest, which is being sponsored by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, is also being supported by NYU students and faculty who opposed the plan as well as local block associations and unions.

The NYU expansion plans have already been opposed by CB2’s Land Use Committee, and it appears likely that the Community Board will vote against the proposal. However, construction and redevelopment can continue if NYU gets the support of the City Planning Committee (which is currently conducting an Environmental Impact Study on the proposal) and Borough President Scott Stringer.