New York University's plan to build a fourth tower at the I. M. Pei-designed Silver Towers famed for its large sculpture by Pablo Picasso would contain a 240-room hotel on the lower 15 floors of the 38-story building whose top floors would be used for faculty housing.

According to an article in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal by Craig Karmin, the design of the tower, shown at the left, is by Grimshaw Architects and the university also plans to move its "Jerome S. Coles Sports Center farther east toward Mercer Street to clear space for a broader walkway through the site that connects Bleecker and Houston streets." The article said that "The sports complex would be torn down and rebuilt with a new design."

"The plan," the article continued, "also calls for replacing a grocery store that is currently in the northwest corner of the site with a playground. As a result, the site would gain 8,000 square feet of public space under the tower proposal, according to an NYU spokesman."

The article quoted Mark Husser, a Grimshaw partner, as stating that the new tower would complement Mr. Pei's buildings and "would be built with a sensitivity to the existing buildings," and use similar materials and "be positioned at the site in a way not to cut off views from the existing buildings."

Andrew Berman, the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, however, told the Wall Street Journal that the fourth tower at the site "would utterly change Pei's design."

The university, which will need various approvals before it can build the tower, will make a preliminary presentation to the local community board on Monday, the article said. The approvals involve landmarks, zoning and the acquisition of land from the city.