gentrification

The building owner won a temporary reprieve after Gothamist began making inquiries.

The rezoning proposal is now headed for a decisive vote by the City Council.

The changes, which does not reduce the number of units or amount of retail space, may not be enough to save the project.

"Go back to Iowa. You go back to Ohio. New York City belongs to the people that were here and made New York City what it is."

'These [single-story] ones are the most vulnerable... Nobody is going to build a new one.'

"The police department is ignoring the temporary restraining order and refusing to recognize it."

'No building of this scale has ever been approved in a historic district.'

The fight, which involves a prominent slice of real estate on 125th Street and Broadway, has reignited longstanding tensions between residents and the university.

Along with concerns about density and construction, the development battle has stoked existential anxiety about gentrification and the future of Harlem as the epicenter of black American culture.

Last Friday, Columbia announced the closure of a McDonalds on Broadway along with its intentions to demolish the franchise's building and a neighboring row of warehouses on 125th Street.