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Columbia's historical campus today, expanding into Manhattanville.
Columbia Expansion Extensive
by Michelle SeeryContributing Writer
January 26, 2006
Columbia University is undertaking ambitious and controversial plans to expand its campus over the next 25 years across more that 18 acres of disputed land surrounding its upper Manhattan campus.
Similar to NYU’s real estate struggles, Columbia’s proposal would accommodate a growing university in a constricted and increasingly expensive area.
“The proposed development will help solve the university’s critical space needs and continue to attract talented faculty, researchers and students to carry out its mission of education, research and service,” according to a statement released by Columbia University.
While Columbia already owns some of this land, it plans to acquire the remaining property through eminent domain, or the seizing of private property.
The plans are controversial both inside and outside the Columbia community. A group of 20 students started the Student Coalition on Expansion and Gentrification, which allied itself with West Harlem community groups in Fall 2004, to oppose the university’s expansion plans.
Columbia’s plans may require residents and business owners in the area to relocate and residents in 94 apartment units may be forced to move, group members said.
“We don’t want the university to be transformed into a huge biotech campus that contributes to the gentrification of the area and pushes out people of color,” said Columbia senior Nell Geiser, a member of the coalition.
The Department of City Planning is currently seeking community consultation about its expansion plans, working with both Columbia and Community Board 9 to determine the future of Manhattanville, which is the term applied to the Morningside Heights area of Manhattan that Columbia occupies.
The disputed land consists of approximately 18 acres, extending north from West 125th Street to 133rd Street, and west from Broadway to 12th Avenue, according to the website of Columbia University Neighbors, which is the school’s community affairs branch.
“We believe that the proposed development will create opportunities for commercial development and will add, both directly and indirectly, some 14,000 new jobs,” according to the Columbia statement.
Construction will be completed over the next 10 years and total completion of the projects would take another 15 to 25 years. The first phase of the development would begin along West 125th Street and gradually move north, encompassing a new facility and research center for its School of the Arts. Two historical buildings — Prentis Hall on West 125th Street and the Studebaker Building on West 131st Street — will be renovated for new uses. Other buildings along West 125th Street would have their ground floors renovated.
“The university plans to devote space for ground-floor retail, restaurants and other community uses, contributing to the ongoing revitalization taking place along West 125th Street, Broadway and 12th Avenue,” Columbia’s statement reads.
Approximately 5 million square feet will be developed for “research facilities, classrooms, administrations, faculty and student housing, recreation and active ground floor uses, such as stores and restaurants,” according to the Neighbors website. Another 1.5 million square feet underground would be used for support services, including utilities, a central loading dock and parking.
The Manhattanville expansion could lead to a loss of more than 1,150 jobs, members of the Student Coalition on Expansion and Gentrification said.
“The replacement of those jobs with jobs of a difference character that will not be broadly available to local residents,” according to the website of the coalition, which is composed of 20 students. The group also said the move would also limit affordable housing and displace people living in the area.
Geiser said the coalition spoke with 40 students groups throughout Columbia to ensure the community concerns of West Harlem are heard on campus.
Several hundred people have become involved through petitions distributed by the coalition, and 60 Columbia faculty members signed the petition last spring, Geiser said.
“They don’t believe they are in genuine dialogue with the community and they are not willing to redesign its own plans,” she said, adding that the coalition continues to work with faculty to ensure the university remains accountable for the expansion’s effects.
Community Board 9, which includes residents from Manhattanville, is opposed Columbia’s Manhattanville plan and its use of eminent domain.
"We have a resolution that we will not allow the taking of private property to be given to another organization, whether it is non-profit or for-profit," CB9 chairman Jordi Reyes-Montblanc said.
Residents are also worried even if they aren’t forced to move, they will be driven out by rent increases due to the expansion, Reyes-Montblanc said.
Most tenants in Manhattanville are low-wage and blue-collar workers and would be forced to move if rent increases occur, he said, adding that CB9 has been working for the past 20 years on an alternate development plan called the 197-A plan.
The 197-A plan, which rejects the use of eminent domain in Manhattanville, proposes a special mixed-use district for Manhattanville. This district will include affordable housing and the preservation of industrial jobs. The plan was officially recognized in November 2005 when it passed threshold reviews by the Department of City Planning.
In 2003, the Harlem Community Development Corporation and the Pratt Center for Community Development joined with CB9 to develop the plan after Columbia announced its Manhattanville plan that February.
“Columbia is proposing to develop a mixed-use campus comprising academic, residential, retail and public open spaces,” according to the Columbia statement. “Since announcing the proposed Manhattanville expansion the university has continued to engage in discussions with community leaders, the city, elected officials and Community Board 9.”
Earlier this month, CB9 submitted its written response to an Environmental Impact Statement, which was performed. The response repeated the need for a revised draft scope to include the 197-A plan.
Columbia Expansion Extensive
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