N.Y.U. College of Nursing Expanding at First Avenue Site

New York University’s College of Nursing is bidding to leave the well-worn streets of Greenwich Village, transplanting itself to Manhattan’s land of all things health care: First Avenue.

According to an N.Y.U. spokesman, the College of Nursing is seeking to take about 67,000 square feet in a newly constructed building near the N.Y.U. College of Dentistry, located by First Avenue between 24th and 26th streets. The building will be part of a larger structure that will host the research-focused N.Y.U. Child Study Center. The nursing college will be moving from 246 Greene Street.

Fueling its need for a shiny new East Side facility is a citywide and nationwide nursing shortage, one that is sure to be exacerbated as the baby boomers age further. In order to attract both faculty—of which there is also a shortage—and students to its school, N.Y.U. reasons, the attractive lure of new facilities is needed.

The expansion of the College of Nursing comes as part of the larger plans of N.Y.U.’s president, John Sexton, to expand the school’s presence in the city by six million square feet in the next 25 years, beefing up its housing and academic space as its enrollment grows by about 5,500.