A rendering of Columbia’s proposed Steven Holl-designed athletic facility at Baker FieldThe City Council voted yesterday to approve Columbia University’s Baker Field waterfront development project in Inwood, clearing the way for the school to build a new 47,700-square-foot, Steven Holl-designed athletic facility under modified zoning rules, DNAinfo reported. The debate leading up to the vote had centered upon Columbia’s request for a zoning variance at the 218th Street and Broadway site. In order to build a facility of that size, the city would normally have required 15 percent of the waterfront land to be exchanged for public use. Columbia will now be allowed to give up just 1.5 percent of the property for that purpose. [DNAinfo]
