The university is continuing its attempt to convert Governors Island into space for housing, athletic fields and academic facilities, said an NYU official.

Housing on the abandoned 172-acre island would be for faculty, staff and graduate students since the location, less than a half-mile from the southern tip of New York City, would be less than an inconvenience to them than to undergraduates, said Robert Berne, vice president for academic development.

Berne said the university contacted New York City officials three years ago to inquire about space for athletic fields and was told about the possible availability of Governors Island.

About a year and a half later, the Massachusetts-based Corcoran Jennison Company, along with other developers, began working on a plan with NYU.

The city considered nearly twenty different developers before deciding to endorse Corcoran Jennison's proposal, said project director Eric Pravitz.

"We've always planned uses for the entire island," Pravitz said in explaining why he felt Corcoran Jennison won the endorsement.

NYU also contacted Columbia University to be a partner in the plan since it was felt that its needs were similar, Berne said.

Governors Island served as an army base for roughly 200 years and as a Coast Guard base beginning in the 1960s. It closed two years ago.

The federal government owns the island and has put a $500 million price tag on it. New York City will get first dibs on the island if it can come up with a viable proposal for development by 2002.

It is possible that the city may obtain the island for close to nothing. President Clinton told New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan that he would use his influence to have the island turned over to the city or state for a dollar as long as it was used for the public benefit, the New York Times article.

Berne said that there is a sense of urgency to settle the matter before both Clinton and Moynihan leave office in January 2000. NYU plans to allow public use of its Governors Island facilities, especially during the summer.

Governors Island cannot be sold before the beginning of fiscal year 2002, which begins on Oct. 1, 2001; however, the proposal be adopted before then.

"Congress has to go along with this too," Berne said. "Right now, it's in the budget to give the federal government some revenue."