ALBANY N.Y. – New York’s top court on Thursday upheld a state redevelopment agency’s use of eminent domain so Columbia University can expand its Ivy League campus over 17 acres in West Harlem.
The Court of Appeals said there was a rational basis for the Empire State Development Corp.’s findings that the area is blighted and Columbia’s expansion constitutes a land use improvement project.
The argument that the Empire State Development Corp. “acted in ‘bad faith” or pretextually is unsubstantiated by the record,” Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick wrote, reversing the decision of a midlevel court.
She noted that the initial blight study was done by consultants who had previously done similar work for Columbia, but that a second study was done by a firm with no such affiliation.
Columbia’s proposed project, estimated in 2007 at $6.3 billion, includes up to 16 new buildings for housing, laboratories and other facilities, two acres of public open space, and tree-lined sidewalks. The university already owns most of the land in the largely commercial area.
Columbia President Lee Bollinger said Thursday that school leaders “look forward to moving ahead with the long-term revitalization of these blocks in Manhattanville that will create thousands of good jobs for New Yorkers and help our city and state remain a global center of pioneering academic research.”
Empire State spokesman Warner Johnston said that the court confirmed the project complies with the law and that the acquisition of holdout properties is essential. It will “enhance the vitality” of both the university and the neighborhood and result in 14,000 construction jobs over 25 years and 6,000 university positions, he said.
