Nick Sprayregen knew the chances were slim that the Supreme Court would hear his case against the state and, by extension Columbia University, yet still, the owner of Tuck-It-Away self-storage held out hope.
“It was a shocking decision, even with the chance of the court taking the case being 1 percent,” Sprayregen told The Observer Read More
When Columbia announced its plans to create a new 17-acre campus in the Manhattanville neighborhood of West Harlem, those living just next door were understandably worried. The university has had a fractious relationship with Morningside Heights, from the controversial 1960s gymnasium that sparked riots to its imposing campus that is seen as off-limits to Read More
Amid Columbia University’s ongoing border skirmishes–the result of its planned 17-acre expansion northward–even the name of the embattled neighborhood is contested.
Some favor Mahattanville, a moniker harking back to the 19th-century Quaker village that sprang up, as contemporary guidebooks put it, a whole “eight miles from New York.” Others contend the area is simply an Read More
Columbia’s prez, Lee Bollinger, almost breaks a sweat when he talks about the school’s plans to move ahead with expansion plans, reports Crain’s. “A note of impatience frequently creeps into the voice” of the ever-polished Mr. Bollinger when he talks about Manhattanville, says the article.
Apparently the former law prof found himself Read More
State Senator Bill Perkins is apparently not happy about the state’s choice of consultants.
One consultant, specifically: AKRF, the New York–based firm that has established itself as the unchallenged king of environmental review in the city and state, dominating the field of government contracts.
The source of angst for Mr. Perkins Read More
It’s been a pretty good month for Nick Sprayregen.
On Dec. 3, the owner of a set of warehouses in the footprint of Columbia University’s planned West Harlem expansion, with his lawyer, Norman Siegel, were handed a highly unexpected victory in a suit that challenged the use of eminent domain for the project.
And Read More
Harlem state senator asks Paterson for moratorium on land takings, no appeal in Columbia Read More
The Columbia Spectator is reporting that the Empire State Development Corporation decided today to take the properties of the last two hold-out owners in Columbia’s West Harlem expansion footprint through eminent domain. It’s not an unexpected move: In July, the ESDC declared the footprint blighted, setting the ball rolling toward an eminent domain Read More
On Tuesday, the Empire State Development Corporation held its first public hearing on its outline for Columbia’s 17-acre expansion into West Harlem.
One of the first speakers was the daughter, a senior in high school, of the Singh family, owner of a gas station at 129th Street. The gas station is one of two hold-out Read More
Nick Sprayregen, the landowner leading the final hold-out against Columbia’s 17-acre West Harlem expansion, has an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal. In it, Mr. Sprayregen (profiled by The Observer in July) attacks Columbia’s threatened use of eminent domain to take his storage company’s property.
In the Fifth Amendment to the Read More
