Columbia Expansion Plan Won’t Face New Review

(CN) - The Supreme Court will not review a decision that authorized Columbia University to develop a $6.3 billion satellite campus in Harlem.

The 2nd Circuit ruled against neighborhood groups that challenged the state's use of eminent domain to take private property and accommodate the 17-acre expansion.

Owners of three gas stations and a storage facility located in the proposed expansion site brought the case. Seven residential buildings in the area cannot be acquired as long as they remain occupied, according to the 2nd Circuit ruling.

The ruling determined that the new campus qualified as a land-use improvement or civic project, and that the project superseded the objections in the run-down area.

Plans for the project include 2 acres of publicly accessible open space, a retail market along 12th Avenue, tree-lined sidewalks, 16 new university building and an area devoted to services for the local community.

The case is Tuck-It-Away v. NY State Urban Development (10-402).

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