Two more holdouts are standing in Bruce Ratner’s way at Atlantic Yards, except in this case, the developer doesn’t want to evict them, he just wants them to let him onto their properties in order to do a little underground construction work. According to the Daily News, the state is taking two Atlantic Avenue businesses — museum and trade show shop Global Exhibition Services and a Storage Mart — to court to force them into letting Ratner install underground steel cables known as tie-backs beneath their buildings, a necessary step for finishing the Carlton Avenue bridge portion of the project. The businesses have thus far rebuffed Ratner’s efforts for fear of property damage, but the state is arguing that eminent domain would allow it to condemn the properties if it had to in order to get the work done. Comments

Upwards of 50 of protesters gathered outside Columbia University’s employment center yesterday evening, alleging that the university hasn’t lived up to its promise to create jobs as part of its $6.3 billion Manhattanville expansion, according to DNAinfo. As The Real Deal reported earlier this week, the Coalition to Preserve Community claims that it’s been repeatedly rebuffed in its efforts to obtain employment statistics from the employment center, which opened five years ago near the expansion site. [more]

Columbia University

A local activist group is planning to gather outside Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus tomorrow evening to protest the university’s $6.3 billion expansion plan, putting officials on the defensive.

“Hey Columbia, where are the jobs?” taunted a statement by the Coalition to Preserve Community sent to members of the press this morning. The group alleges that Columbia, which in December received the U.S. Supreme Court’s green light to proceed with construction at its 17-acre Manhattanville site, had falsely touted the creation of 7,000 jobs in order to get the plan approved. But now that construction has begun, the CPC says it’s been repeatedly rebuffed in its efforts to obtain employment statistics from the Columbia University Employment Information Center, which opened five years ago near the expansion site.

In a statement provided to The Real Deal, a Columbia spokesperson said the university has hired 900 local residents for full-time, part-time and temporary positions since the employment center opened. [more]

Time is running out for the holdouts in Queens’ Willets Point, where the city is planning to make its first move towards seizing a 20-acre swath of land through eminent domain next week. According to the Wall Street Journal, the parcel represents the first phase of the 62-acre development project, for which the city will begin soliciting bids from developers in April. Among the developers who have previously expressed interest in the project are the Related Companies, Muss Development and the Wilpon Family’s Sterling Equities. Comments

Columbia University can move forward with plans for a $6.3 billion expansion after the U.S. Supreme Court today rejected an appeal by local businesses whose properties may be subject to eminent domain, Crain’s reported. The justices refused to question findings by a state development agency, Empire State Development Corp., saying that the area is blighted and that the expansion has a legitimate public purpose. The 17-acre site in Manhattanville would add more than 6.8 million square feet to the university. [more]

A petition for certiorari filed by Harlem property owners in the eminent domain case concerning the proposed expansion of Columbia University into Harlem by way of the Empire State Development Corporation will be consider by the Supreme Court of the United States today, with a decision to grant or deny to be released Dec. 13. Similar to the Atlantic Yards case, the property owners in the Columbia case have disputed the ESDC’s findings, which say that their properties are blighted. The ESDC is the same agency that enabled Forest City Ratner to take private homes and businesses for the Atlantic Yards arena. The blog of the Supreme Court has also included the Columbia University eminent domain case on its list of “Petitions to Watch.” [No Land Grab] [more]

Despite numerous setbacks that have delayed development, Columbia University officials say they’re moving full steam ahead on the school’s Manhattanville expansion project, in the wake of the State Court of Appeals ruling in their favor June 24, according to Crain’s. The court’s decision, which authorizes the use of eminent domain in Columbia’s proposed $6.3 billion project, officially gave the school the green light on its 16-building expansion, which will stretch from Broadway to 12th Avenue and from 125th to 133rd streets. But the protracted court fight to gain development rights through eminent domain came with a price for Columbia: the school says it’s now years behind schedule, and swift action is needed to get back on track. The first phase of the project, a four-building cluster, for example, will miss its target completion date by five years, with estimates now showing it may not be finished until 2020. [Crain's]

[more]

The New York Court of Appeals has upheld the state’s use of eminent domain to seize land for Columbia University’s proposed $6.3 billion, 17-acre West Harlem expansion plan, the Associated Press reported. The Empire State Development Corp. had argued that the seizures were justified because the area was blighted. The Columbia project, the agency said, would improve the neighborhood with new housing, laboratories and two acres of public open space. In December, that argument was rejected by a state appellate court, which said the general public would not benefit from the expansion of a private university. Columbia already owns all but 9 percent of the land it intends to build upon but wants the new Manhattanville campus to run uninterrupted with an interconnected underground facility beneath it. [AP] 

[more]

The New York Court of Appeals has upheld the state’s use of eminent domain to seize land for Columbia University’s proposed $6.3 billion, 17-acre West Harlem expansion plan, the Associated Press reported. The Empire State Development Corp. had argued that the seizures were justified because the area was blighted. The Columbia project, the agency said, would improve the neighborhood with new housing, laboratories and two acres of public open space. In December, that argument was rejected by a state appellate court, which said the general public would not benefit from the expansion of a private university. Columbia already owns all but 9 percent of the land it intends to build upon but wants the new Manhattanville campus to run uninterrupted with an interconnected underground facility beneath it. [AP] 

[more]

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has begun sending out letters to West Siders whose stores and properties lie in the path of a tunnel-boring machine that will soon start creating an $8.7 billion commuter New Jersey Transit train line beneath the Hudson River. More than 90 business and building owners have received notice that the Port Authority might use eminent domain to acquire their properties. Ground was broken on the tunnel’s west end in North Bergen, N.J. last summer; ultimately it is slated to stretch to a terminal under 34th Street near the Macy’s flagship, though work in Manhattan is not likely to begin for several months. First, the Port Authority must hold an as-yet-unscheduled public hearing on the eminent domain process. [NYT]

[more]