The New York State Court of Appeals ruled this summer that eminent domain can be used to obtain private properties in the area, a major victory for Columbia as it prepares for its planned 17-acre campus expansion.
And the University is not wasting time with its plan, pushing forward this month with construction projects and demolition efforts in Manhattanville.
The June court decision cleared the way for the $6.3 billion project to proceed, barring a reversal by the U.S. Supreme Court. The property holdouts, Tuck-it-Away Self-Storage owner Nick Sprayregen and gas station owners Gurnam Singh and Parminder Kaur, will soon ask the Supreme Court to hear the case.
The expansion zone extends from 125th to 133rd streets and from Broadway to the Hudson River. It will include new classroom buildings and research facilities, and Columbia says it will create thousands of jobs—a point University President Lee Bollinger emphasized after the ruling, telling Spectator, “An institution like Columbia, committed to research and teaching, in addition to public service, has enormous value to the surrounding city.”
Warner Johnston, a spokesperson for the Empire State Development Corporation—the state agency with the power to invoke eminent domain—also praised the decision, calling the remaining properties a necessary component of the University’s plan. “The acquisition of the holdout properties is essential to realizing the vision for the Manhattanville campus as it was approved by the state,” he said in a statement after the decision. He declined to comment on any potential appeal, saying simply, “Today’s ruling speaks for itself.”
The ruling
In an opinion written by Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, the Court of Appeals overturned a December 2009 ruling by the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, which had dealt a major blow to the expansion. In that ruling, Justice James Catterson had stated that ESDC’s designation of Manhattanville as blighted—a condition of economic disrepair beyond the potential for natural relief—was made “in bad faith,” and that the expansion of an “elite” private university did not constitute a public use, as required by eminent domain law. Ciparick dismissed those arguments.
The expansion of a private university can serve the public good, Ciparick wrote, because “the indisputably public purpose of education is particularly vital for New York City and the state to maintain their respective statuses as global centers of higher education and academic research.” The ruling continues, “The purpose of the project is unquestionably to promote education and academic research while providing public benefits to the local community.”
The Manhattanville holdouts had also argued that ESDC’s decision to hire consulting firm Allee King Rosen and Fleming, Inc. to conduct the blight study constituted “collusion,” since AKRF was also a consultant for Columbia. That was one of the primary bases on which the Appellate Division had condemned eminent domain, but the Court of Appeals defended ESDC. The ruling noting that ESDC had hired a second, independent consultant, Earth Tech, to replicate the study, and Earth Tech also found the area blighted.
“Simply put, petitioners’ argument that ESDC acted in ‘bad faith’ or pretextually is unsubstantiated by the record,” Ciparick wrote.
Bollinger cast the decision as the end of a long legal battle.
“Many steps along the way have made one feel expansion is actually possible. This one, because we think it’s the last, is very special,” Bollinger said.
Disappointment for eminent domain opponents
For those who have continually fought the University on eminent domain, the decision was a major letdown.
Reached after the ruling came out, Sprayregen said he believed the result was “pre-determined” by the justices, who “basically accepted everything at face value the state said.” He added, “We believe that this decision, especially coming as a unanimous decision, is a disaster for private property rights in New York State.”
His attorney, former New York Civil Liberties Union director Norman Siegel, said the ruling sets a poor precedent for future cases.
“It opens the door to even greater abuse of eminent domain in New York State,” Siegel said. “It’s the first time the court has held that a private educational institution can constitute a civic project.”
For Singh and Kaur, this fight is very personal.
“Their two gas stations are their livelihood,” said David Smith, the attorney for Singh and Kaur. “It’s completely and totally upsetting.”
Kaur added, “The millionaires got everything, not the hardworking people. I was very upset—everybody knows that the Columbia project is not good for the public.”
Some neighborhood residents and students who have watched the legal battle unfold also called the Court of Appeals’ legal reasoning flawed.
“I think it’s a ruling that reflects the power of elitist institutions, and it’s one that will facilitate the eviction and the elimination of a great West Harlem community,” said Tom DeMott, CC ’80 and a member of the local activist group Coalition to Preserve Community.
What’s next
There is no guarantee that the U.S. Supreme Court will agree to hear the case. If it does, its precedent has generally been in favor of an expansive interpretation of permissible eminent domain use—most recently, the court held in the 2005 Kelo v. City of New London decision that the transfer of property from one private owner to another can constitute a public use if it is for a revitalization project, even if the properties are in good condition and being productively used.
In late September, Siegel will petition for a writ of certiorari, which is a request for the Supreme Court to rule on the case. If this is granted, the Supreme Court will review the state court’s decision, but the odds are slim: The Supreme Court has a grant rate of just 1.1 percent.
“I can’t speak to that,” Bollinger said when asked about a possible Supreme Court appeal. “All I can say is from our standpoint, this is an enormous victory.”
But according to Pat Jones, former chair of Community Board 9, which represents Morningside Heights and West Harlem, the ruling is not necessarily the end of the road for Sprayregen, Singh, and Kaur.
Regardless of the outcome at the Supreme Court level, Jones said, “The role that the community board can play is ensuring that any commitments that Columbia has made to the community, it does keep—whether it’s demolition, construction, or anything else—is held to the highest standard.”
Meanwhile, the University is making progress in its construction efforts. The installation of a combined sewer along 12th Avenue will continue this week, blocking traffic on 129th Street between Broadway and 125th, and workers will move forward with abatement and demolition in the block bordered by 12th Avenue, Broadway, and 131st and 129th streets.
DeMott said he and other eminent domain opponents will continue to fight as the case makes its way to Washington.
“We’re not going anywhere,” he said. “We live here, and we’ll continue our resistance.”
Sarah Darville and Sam Levin contributed reporting.
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