Columbia adjusts course amid expansion snags

Columbia adjusts course amid expansion snags

Harlem campus plan may change to accommodate local community
By Anne Michaud

Published on October 11, 2004

Columbia University has hit two roadblocks in its effort to build a $5 billion second campus in west Harlem's Manhattanville neighborhood.

Six small business owners are refusing to sell their properties, and they have hired civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel to fight any condemnation proceedings the university might bring to bear through the eminent domain process.

School officials also have asked their architects for revisions to link the proposed campus more to the surrounding area in an effort to allay concern among community leaders that the plan is uninviting and intimidating. The criticism is reminiscent of the university's legendary 1968 battle with neighbors over the design of a gymnasium.

Columbia says it has already made a number of changes in response to community wishes, and sources say the design team may be working on a plan that preserves the six protesting businesses.

As a result of the dustups, the university will very likely miss its self-imposed deadline of late fall to begin the rezoning process, or Ulurp, that it needs to proceed. The town-and-gown debate could work its way into next year's mayoral election.

Many people say a compromise is possible. "The people of Columbia are smart and businesslike, and we are not dummies and are also businesslike," says Jordi Reyes-Montblanc, chairman of Community Board 9, which will play a key approval role.


Echoes of 1968
Echoes of the resident and student protests that shuttered the university campus nearly 35 years ago are being sounded: community activists picket outside the school's gates, the daily student paper The Columbia Spectator suppots the protestors and cars bear bumper stickers that read, "Stop eminent domain abuse.

"Mr. Siegel says that eminent domain, which is government power to take private land for public purposes, has been distorted through the years and was never intended for a private university's expansion. Courts across the country are beginning to limit government land-taking powers, and a New London, Conn., case that could restrict such action is to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court during the current term.

The businesses Mr. Siegel represents are asking Columbia University to promise not to use eminent domain before they sit down to serious negotiations.

A state official familiar with the dispute says that the state has promised Columbia that it will condemn one or two properties--the final holdouts--but that it wants the university to wean the list first."We don't want to condemn all of northwest Manhattan," the official says.

"The cases have got to be very compelling." The Empire State Development Corp., which controls state eminent domain proceedings, says it's too early to talk about the state's involvement.

University sources say the businesses-storage and moving facilities, a window installer, a hardware supplier and a real estate company--are playing hard-to-get so they can win a better price from Columbia.

But Mr. Reyes-Montblanc says the university has already offered premium prices to other property owners, and he thinks the holdouts may actually be unwilling to move.
"These people are comfortable where they are," he says.

Columbia University owns about 40% of the land in the designated square of West Harlem known as Manhattanville, from West 125th to West 134th streets. The city and state own another 20%. The university, squeezed into its current location, says it can't compete with other major universities for teaching or graduate student talent without some modern facilities, especially laboratories. With 12 million square feet of existing space, Columbia hopes to add 6 million square feet in Manhattanville over the next 30 years. The first buildings will be for biomedical research and arts facilities.

Benefits agreement

With such a long timeline, community leaders advocate a community benefits agreement, which would spell out the university's commitments over the life of the Manhattanville expansion. Similar agreements have been negotiated by other Ivy League campuses hemmed in by urban life. Bruce Ratner, the would-be developer of a complex for the Nets basketball team in Brooklyn, just agreed to negotiate a similar pact.

Affordable housing, job training and higher-education programs for local schoolchildren are some of the elements a benefits agreement might contain.

Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields, another key decision-maker in the needed rezoning, is championing a benefits agreement. "It would be in the interest of Columbia to work with the community," she says. "I'm hopeful we can get to a yes.

"The Columbia spokeswoman did not want to comment on whether the university will sign such an agreement.