When it comes to New York City real estate, Columbia University is one of the
biggest landlords, holding billions of dollars worth of properties.
Now, the Ivy League university wants even more. The school is involved in a
contentious legal battle with its uptown neighbors over properties it wants to
acquire in West Harlem through eminent domain. The school wants to build a
17-acre research campus on those West Harlem properties for at least
$6 billion to $7 billion that would be completed
over the next 20-plus years.
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Most of the properties in the area that Columbia wants to acquire are in an
industrial zone that houses various small businesses, including auto mechanic
shops, storage businesses and restaurants. Proponents of the plan such as
former New York City Mayor David Dinkins feel the project would be a boon to
New York City. They claim new jobs in the science field would be created and
new students would revitalize the area.
But opponents such as Nicholas Sprayregen, owner of
Tuck-It-Away self-storage facility in that
neighborhood, feel the use of eminent domain to acquire land is unjust.
"Why is it that my property has to be condemned
for another private entity?" he said in a Wednesday New York Sun article.
"Maybe if Columbia wants to come enter into a private 99-year lease and I'll
build them a research laboratory. There's no reason why they have to own this
in order to do this research."
Sprayregen has a point. In the 1940s, Metropolitan Life Insurance acquired 80
acres of land in the Lower East Side of Manhattan through eminent domain to
build a middle-income facility that would come to be known as Stuyvesant
Town/Peter Cooper Village. The properties that MetLife acquired some 70 years
ago came from private hands in the depressed neighborhood known as the Gas
Light District. In 2006, MetLife was able to sell Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper
Village in the biggest real estate deal in history for
$5.4
billion dollars. Was that for the public good? Should we fear that
Columbia may do the same in the future, if it's able to acquire those lands?
What do you think? —Gerald Magpily
See New York City
Sun article
See
Village Voice blog
Tags: Columbia University, real estate, eminent domain
