AREA BUSINESSES FIGHT EMINENT DOMAIN

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In the News - Full Article
November 16, 2004
New York Sun

AREA BUSINESSES FIGHT EMINENT DOMAIN

By Jacob Gershman, Staff Reporter of the Sun

The stage is set for an eminent-domain battle pitting the city and state governments against owners of neighborhood businesses who fear their Manhattanville properties will be condemned to make room for Columbia University's proposed expansion.

Several businesses, including moving-and-storage companies, recently hired an attorney, Norman Siegel, the former director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, to ward off condemnation of their properties within the mostly industrial area bounded by 125th and 133rd streets and Broadway and Twelfth Avenue. In April, Columbia announced preliminary plans to add classroom space and laboratories there over the next 30 years.

The dispute between the owners and government over the future of the 18-acre area is emerging at a time when battles over governments' seizure of private property are raging across the country.

The Supreme Court agreed in September to hear a case involving an eminent-domain dispute between homeowners and New London, Conn. The town condemned their property to make room for a waterfront hotel, conference center, and office space. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the homeowners and overturns the Connecticut Supreme Court's ruling in March in favor of the city, the decision could affect Columbia's efforts to shape the neighborhood.

The central legal question in the Connecticut case is whether a municipality may seize land to make room for private development. Under the "takings clause" of the Fifth Amendment, government may take private property as long as there is "just compensation" and it's for "public use."

If New York State's Empire State Development Corporation begins condemnation proceedings in Manhattanville, in an area zoned for manufacturing, the key issue likely to arise is to what extent the expansion will serve a public purpose.

A spokesman for the state corporation, Chapin Fay, said it was "premature" to comment on the possibility of condemnation. Mr. Siegel, the neighborhood businesses' lawyer, said transferring property to Columbia would violate the Constitution because the university is a private entity. He said he is prepared to sue the state if it condemns the property.

Columbia is said to own 42% of the land in the expansion area. The rest is owned by businesses, the city, and the state. Mr. Siegel said he fears the New York City Economic Development Corporation, in a study it is conducting of West Harlem, will deem the neighborhood "blighted," which would be a first step toward a possible condemnation. The corporation has completed a rough draft of the blight study, according to Jordi Reyes-Montblanc, chairman of Community Board 9.

David Dana, a professor at Northwestern University Law School who specializes in property law, said Mr. Siegel's case would be weakened if the city designates the area blighted. "It would change the court's perception," Mr, Dana said.

A Columbia official, who declined to be named, said the university will continue to negotiate with businesses to purchase the properties "in a way that addresses the needs of individual owners and tenants" and "meets the university's objectives and brings economic prosperity to the larger Manhattanville community."

"Eminent domain is a power that can only be deemed appropriate and exercised by the State, or other public authorities, not by the University," the official said in a written statement.

Columbia officials have argued that the university's expansion into Manhattanville will dramatically improve economic development of the community. Columbia, which has the least square footage per student of any Ivy League school, has said if it doesn't expand the university will soon run out of space.

In September, the university released statistics from its own economic impact survey showing that the expansion, in its first 5-to-10-year phase, would generate $324 million in revenue for the community and almost 3,000 permanent jobs. Those numbers would be more than quadrupled upon completion of all three phases in the 30 year plan, according to the university. The first phase would also produce $13 million a year in tax revenue for the city and state, the survey said.

Columbia, which has consulted with community leaders in developing its plans, is working on completing its environmental impact statement, which will cover its rezoning proposals, to be submitted to the Department of City Planning and community leaders.

Columbia plans to open an employment office early next year, at what was once a Mexican restaurant, on Broadway near 125th Street. That center is to serve as a central walk-in center for people looking for jobs at Columbia.

The assistant vice president for human resources at Columbia, Judith Dorsey, said the employment center will make Columbia "more community friendly." She said the center "will help make jobs more accessible."

"It's motivated by the need to improve the hiring process and increase transparency," Ms. Dorsey said.

The eighth largest non-governmental employer in the city, Columbia has more than 13,000 full-time employees.