Eminent Domain Approved for Columbia Expansion
Tenants Council Protests University’s 17-acre Expansion Plan
NEW YORK — State officials have given Columbia University the power to employ eminent domain in acquiring property to extend its campus to a 17-acre site in west Harlem.
The Empire State Development Corp. approved the university’s general project plan, which includes using eminent domain to seize any “properties and property interests needed for the first 10-year phase of the project’s development,” according to a notice by the ESDC.
Preconstruction and planning is already complete on the Jerome L. Greene Science Center, the first building of the new $5 billion development, which will house laboratories for researching treatments for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.
The first phase of the plan, scheduled to be complete by 2015, also includes a new home for the university’s business school, school of international and public affairs, school of the arts and a permanent home for the Columbia-assisted public secondary school for math, science and engineering.
The rest of the development, slated for completion in 2030, will affect several disciplines including biomedical engineering, nanotechnology, systems biology, urban and population studies and housing for faculty and graduate students.
The plan has met vociferous opposition from property owners, tenants and merchants in the area who claim Columbia is muscling out local businesses and residents. The university has been buying properties in the proposed campus expansion area for several years. Opponents are accusing it of forcing out tenants, raising rents and leaving empty spaces in disrepair to create the appearance of blight, opening the way to eminent domain.
“Columbia University’s conduct and decorum to date throughout the entire scoping process has been one of typical racial arrogance, duplicity, lies, disinformation and misinformation,” says Nellie Bailey, co-founder of Harlem Tenants Council. “We must resist. We must mount a campaign of resistance and fight back because if we don’t, we will not be here, our children will not be here and we will not recognize this place.”
Columbia and ESDC say the new facilities will provide more jobs, education and neighborhood improvement.
“Columbia has committed to develop, fund and implement a number of initiatives in connection with the project, which will coordinate and link Columbia’s long-term growth with providing tangible benefits to the local community on various levels,” according to the plan approved by the ESDC.
The benefits Columbia is touting include almost 6,000 new university jobs with competitive benefits, an average of 1,200 construction-related jobs a year for the next 25 years, $20 million in university funding to support affordable housing initiatives and $76 million in funding to meet community needs.
The new neighborhood design will include publicly accessible open spaces and improved streets, new retail stores, restaurants and other public amenities and a college-assisted K-8 public school, university officials say.
University officials say Columbia needs the expansion to compete with other universities that have more space for students.