While NY's highest court upheld Columbia University's Manhattanville expansion, two property holdouts and State Senator Bill Perkins are hoping that the Supreme Court will hear the case. The Columbia Spectator reports that the holdouts' attorneys "are appealing the decision to the Supreme Court of the United States, arguing that the decision promotes an abuse of eminent domain law and violates fundamental constitutional rights." Perkins' brief also "[asserts] that the Court of Appeals ignored legal safeguards articulated in the landmark 2005 Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. City of New London." more ›

NY's highest court, the Court of Appeals, upheld the Manhattanville expansion plans of Columbia University, allowing the institution to move forward on its ambitious 17 acre project. The Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's ruling that the state's use of eminent domain to seize private property was unconstitutional and said the state improperly found property blighted. In the 7-0 decision, Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick wrote, "It cannot be said that [Empire State Development Corporation]'s finding of blight was irrational or baseless. Indeed, ESDC considered a wide range of factors including the physical, economic, engineering and environmental conditions at the Project site. Its decision was not based on any one of these factors, but on the Project site conditions as a whole." more ›

A restaurant bordering Columbia's proposed Manhattanville campus may be in danger of closing for good. Floridita was forced to temporarily close on Tuesday after their landlord—Columbia University—said they needed to take six weeks to repair their floor, or move to a new location on 12th Avenue. Owner Ramon Diaz said the University never considered options that would allow him to stay open while he leased and renovated a new location, and worries the loss of business would force him to close permanently. He told City Room, “I don’t know what I can do. Nobody is going to hire anybody my age." Another regular said, “Columbia is just a bunch of scoundrels. Scoundrels!" more ›

Earlier this month, a state appellate court ruled that the Empire State Development Corporation's use of eminent domain to seize West Harlem land was unconstitutional. The court said Columbia University, which had been eying the property for its Manhattanville project, had contributed to the blighting of the neighborhood by letting its buildings fall into disrepair. Yesterday, protesters rallied to demand that Columbia respect the court's decision. more ›

With a state appeals court's 3-2 decision to call NY State's seizure of West Harlem land by way of eminent domain "unconstitutional," the land owners who sued are thrilled. Nick Sprayregen, a storage business owner, told the Columbia Spectator, “We’re thrilled. We were always cautiously optimistic, but we always thought that we probably wouldn’t win. The majority of the court obviously saw what we saw, that the whole finding of blight was preposterous and engineered specifically to give all the private property over to Columbia. They’re shining a light finally that collusion and conflicts of interests evident in this relationship between Columbia and the state cannot be allowed to continue, and thus they’re putting a stop to this taking of land by Columbia.” more ›

Last December, the Empire State Development Corporation decided to use eminent domain to seize land in West Harlem for Columbia's ambitious Manhattanville development. (NY State officially "blighted" the 17 acres in July 2008.) But now a state appellate courts has overturned the use of eminent domain. The Observer reports, "The decision says, the clear beneficiary was Columbia, not the public. Columbia, by buying up property and not maintaining sidewalks, helped to create blight, the court found, and the university underwrote costs for the entire project, rather than the city or state committing funds." And here's text of the decision: more ›

Five months after state officials found the site "blighted," the Empire State Development Corporation voted to use eminent domain to seize real estate for Columbia's Manhattanville expansion. The Columbia Spectator reports, "The state's decision on Thursday, will allow the state to seize land from two holdouts who have not struck property deals with the University. In exchange, the landowners--Nick Sprayregen, the owner of Tuck-It-Away Storage, and the Singh family, which operates two gas stations in Manhattanville--will receive market rate compensation." But apparently Sprayregen will "file our petition contesting the findings of eminent domain." more ›

A group of residents in a massive building at 3333 Broadway (at 135th Street) are filing a class action lawsuit against the owner of the building, which until 2005 was in the state’s Mitchell-Lama program for moderate-income housing but is now charging market-rate rents. The residents say the owner had not properly notified them of the change to market-rate housing, and they say they're being systematically harassed to move out so higher-paying tenants can move in. more ›

The Empire State Development Corporation held a two-day meeting for the public to air their opinions and concerns about Columbia University's Manhattanville plan. The NY Times reported, "while the two-day hearing featured testimony from a former mayor, members of the State Legislature and the president of Columbia University, the group that will make the ultimate decision, the development corporation’s board, was not there." (Only a lawyer for the ESDC listened.) Former mayor David Dinkins said he is "convinced it...will be positive for Columbia and its neighbors." But on the other side, others, notably Nick Sprayregen who is fighting Columbia to keep his property in the footprint, said there's no reason why the ESDC should have declared the area blighted, opening up the door to eminent domain. more ›

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This morning around 6:15 a.m., two people were shot outside the Manhattanville Houses at 1430 Amsterdam Avenue before the gunman shot himself. Now it turns out the shooter was a postal carrier who had gotten into a fight with the men. more ›

Columbia University’s 17-acre, $7 billion dollar expansion plan (which was approved late last year) has some up in arms, and standing firm. more ›

The old saw is that one can't fight City Hall, and we can apparently add the ivory tower to the bulwarks of imperviousness. Despite fierce community opposition, Columbia University will be expanding its upper-Manhattan campus to surrounding blocks. The plan to expand the university's property by 17 acres and several blocks in each direction was approved this afternoon by the New York City Planning Commission. CityRoom reports the neighborhood meeting wasn't exactly neighborly:A majority... more ›