The university is planning to add 6 million square feet of new space, about half of which would be built in the college's core area in and around Greenwich Village. But [NYU Vice President Lynne] Brown said the university can't meet all of it needs in the historic neighborhood.

"For that reason, we would like to discuss lower Manhattan as part of our exploration of remote sites," she wrote in a letter dated June 11.

Brown wrote that community officials have suggested that NYU occupy the proposed Tower 5, to be build where the former Duetsche Bank building still stands.

NYU plans to increase its campus size by 40 percent under the expansion program.