The Real Deal New York

Columbia University, also known as Columbia University in the City of New York, is a not-for-profit research university founded in 1754 as Kings College and a member of the Ivy League. It has its main campus in Morningside Heights in upper Manhattan, following successive moves north in its history, from downtown Manhattan to midtown, and from midtown to its current location. The university is one of the largest landowners and landlords in New York City, with an estimated footprint of 19.6 million square feet. As of September 2015, the university was in the final year of constructing a satellite campus on a 17-acre site in West Harlem, in a formerly industrial neighborhood called Manhattanville. The $7 billion plan includes construction of 6.8 million square feet in at least 17 buildings on an area bounded by 129th and 133rd Streets, west of Broadway and just north of its main campus. The Manhattanville expansion has required the demolition of most of the existing buildings on the site and relocating tenants in 132 apartment units. Activists opposed the development. It is scheduled to open in 2016. As of September 2015, Lee Bollinger served as the universitys president, a position he had held since 2002. TA