Columbia Spectator - CU Working To Relocate Local Tenants

CU Working To Relocate Local Tenants
University Talking to Housing Dept. About Moving Residents From M�ville

By Tanveer Ali and Erin Durkin
Spectator Staff Writers

November 30, 2005

Columbia has begun actively considering relocation options for the residents of 60 units in four buildings located within its proposed expansion zone.

Several documents obtained by Spectator under the Freedom of Information Law from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, which owns the buildings, indicate that the Department has sanctioned the relocation process and issued detailed recommendations on how it should proceed.

�We�re pulling together options within CB9 for replacement housing,� Jeremiah Stoldt, Columbia�s director of campus plan, wrote in a November 2004 e-mail to Anne Marie Hendrickson, an assistant commissioner at HPD.

While Columbia has publicly committed to finding replacement housing for tenants who are directly displaced by its expansion, the University has not previously specified that this housing would be located within Community District 9, which stretches from 110th to 155th streets. Columbia has kept the substance of their discussions regarding the buildings quiet, and many residents worried that they would be forced to move farther away. The documents indicate a more detailed level of planning than revealed in filings recently released as part of a necessary environmental review process.

�The University will work with affected tenants to relocate them within close proximity to their current residences whenever possible,� University spokeswoman Liz Golden wrote in an e-mail.

According to the documents, University representatives have been meeting with HPD since at least the summer of 2004 to discuss the fate of the buildings. Columbia has gathered floor plans and information about the individual tenants in an effort to identify relocation units that meet HPD specifications, including totaling the number and size of bedrooms.

No timetable is in place for transferring the HPD-owned buildings to Columbia. Instead, they will continue for the immediate future to participate in the affordable housing programs in which they now take part.

But Gloria Calero, a resident of 3287 Broadway, said she was skeptical. Columbia �could say what they want, but they�re going to have to show some proof they�re going to do it,� she said.

Golden declined to elaborate further on the specifics of University meetings with HPD.

�It is routine for University officials to have continuing discussions about a variety of issues relevant to Columbia�s proposed Manhattanville expansion. However, it is University policy not to comment on discussions of this nature while they are still ongoing,� she said.

In September 2004, Bill Carbine, an assistant commissioner at HPD, sent a memo outlining the relocation responsibilities the Department believes that the University should assume.

�Columbia should identify relocation resources in close proximity to the affected buildings for recreation of the programs at its own expense.�

Two of the buildings, located at 602 W. 132nd St. and 3289 Broadway, are currently owned by HPD under the Tenant Interim Lease program, which allows tenants to eventually buy their buildings as low-income cooperatives. Carbine wrote that these tenants must be relocated to apartments they will be able to own, not merely rent.

�Columbia should create two buildings of similar size through rehabilitation or new construction for sale to these tenants as limited equity co-ops, with each tenant paying $250 for their shares and common charges set according to TIL guidelines. TIL tenants would be required to move, assuming HPD approves the location and the quality of the units,� Carbine wrote.

The remaining buildings, 3285 and 3287 Broadway, are owned by HPD under the Neighborhood Redevelopment Program, where city and federal funding is provided to a nonprofit developer for building rehabilitation.

�Columbia would be required to acquire and renovate 22 vacant rental units [in another location] at its own expense to accommodate the existing tenants here at 30 percent of their incomes. The units should be turned over to a HPD-approved not-for-profit to be operated with permanent affordability,� Carbine wrote.

The memo also recommended that Columbia be required to pay moving costs for the affected families. It said, however, that HPD would not demand that Columbia build any affordable housing in addition to what it would provide for relocation.

The area where the buildings are located will not be developed until the second phase of Columbia�s expansion project, meaning that construction is at least 15 years down the road.

According to an e-mail to Carbine from Matt Wambua, an advisor to Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, �We continue to operate under the assumptions that were established via the last formal conversations between CU and HPD�i.e. that HPD is going forward with the [TIL] and [NRP] developments, based on the fact that CU has noted that we should move forward, and that CU will not be able to replace the buildings any time soon.�

Both of the NRP buildings are expected �to be disposed of� to a nonprofit developer, believed to be West Harlem Group Assistance, for redevelopment in June 2006. The TIL buildings located at 602 W. 132nd St. and 3289 Broadway expect to transfer ownership to tenants in 2010 and 2009 respectively.

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NB - I seldom comment on articles posted in the Blog however I will make an exeption in this case for two reasons.
1. Columbia Spectator offered me the chance to review the documents obtanied and commment on them, however as everyone knows I have been away for the Holidays and just returned 3:30am today. And,
2. I am in possession of information relevant to the article.

All the information reported is correct and true at the time the exchanges took place.

What is not reproted is that I had contacts with HPD and Anne Marie Hendricson, Assistant Commissioner of HPD had confirmed by e-mail of these offers by Columbia University and that after due consideration the buildings were to be retained in their respective Programs and not transferred to CU, this information was widely distributed by me at several meetings as the requirements for such consideration were too onerous for CU as CU was under the impression that other City-owned property might have been available and as we all know at CB9M there is nomore City-owned prorperties available within CB9M.

Lastly, there is nothing new to be added to knowledge already in our hands and that is very valuable as we now are sure of inofrmation we had received was correct and not spinned.