• Why does Columbia need more space?

    As we look toward meeting the challenges that will face the city, the nation, and the world in the future, Columbia anticipates adding hundreds of new researchers as part of the proposed expansion. They will form a thriving, eclectic community of scholars collaborating across scientific disciplines to address the signal challenges of our time – from understanding and treating disease to developing new technologies to, for example, improve agriculture and manufacturing and promote a sustainable environment.

    This is the kind of research that will serve New York City as an engine of economic growth, where more companies will want to build on research breakthroughs to develop revolutionary cures and technologies. It will also create thousands of new jobs locally at Columbia – and hundreds more in the private sector – for people with a diversity of skills and experiences, including experienced workers with specialized skills and those who are seeking to build a career as they first enter the workforce.

    More than a century ago, Columbia leaders had the foresight to move from what is now the Rockefeller Center area in Midtown Manhattan uptown to Morningside Heights, allowing the University to grow as new fields of knowledge grew during the 20th century. Since then, Columbia has become a national and global leader in scientific and medical breakthroughs, patient care and intellectual excellence, and arts and culture. Over the past century, Columbians have earned 73 Nobel Prizes, garnering awards in every field in which the prizes are awarded. Columbia faculty members have developed such technological advances as blood banks, cancer treatment drugs, and insights into the relationship between genes and Alzheimer's.

With some 24,400 full- and part-time students and 14,000 faculty and staff members, Columbia is currently the seventh largest non–governmental employer in New York City, with an annual payroll of more than $1.25 billion and total local spending of $2.4 billion. More than two-thirds of Columbia's employees live in New York City, nearly one-third of them in the neighborhoods of Upper Manhattan.

    According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, college enrollment across the nation has grown steadily for the past three decades, by about 50 percent. As a result, Columbia is not alone in planning to expand: Harvard University; University of California, San Francisco; Yale University; University of Pennsylvania; and University of Michigan, among other schools, including City College of New York, are engaged in strategic growth initiatives.

Today, Columbia has significantly less space per student than other top-ranking universities. It has half the space of Harvard University and a third the space of Princeton and Yale. If Columbia were not taking steps toward gradual, well-planned expansion, it wold be difficult for the University to remain a local center for world-class intellectual excellence and cutting-edge academic research and patient care in the decades ahead.

    back to top

  • What does the expansion comprise?

    The gradual expansion will take place in the old Manhattanville manufacturing area in West Harlem, primarily on the four large blocks from 129th to 133rd Streets from Broadway to Twelfth Avenue (see maps). This roughly quarter-century project will, by the year 2030, provide a total of 6.8 million square feet of space above- and below-grade for teaching, academic research, and civic and commercial activity, as well as below-grade parking and facilities support.

    back to top

  • Just where is Manhattanville?

    Manhattanville is located at the southwestern edge of West Harlem, just north of Columbia's main Morningside Heights campus (see maps), bounded by the Hudson River and St. Nicholas Avenue between 120th and 135th Streets. The area was one of old New York's most important 19th-century villages. For decades, the area between the Hudson River and Broadway was a center of trade and light manufacturing, a legacy that can be seen in the onetime auto industry facilities like the Studebaker Building on 131st Street and the Nash Building on 132nd Street.

    But in the second half of the 20th century, the area steadily lost private-sector jobs and became a locale for large warehouses, garages, auto repair shops, and parking, as well as a few remaining light manufacturing businesses and wholesale meat markets.

    The local U.S. Postal Service designation is the Manhattanville Station (located at 365 W. 125th St. between Convent and St. Nicholas Avenues), and the New York City Housing Authority maintains the Manhattanville Houses on the east side of Broadway between 129th and 133st Streets. (See a recent New York Daily News editorial on the area.)

    back to top

  • Why Manhattanville?

    Columbia has grown incrementally through ad hoc development for decades. To alter that pattern and grow strategically, the University had been looking for additional space for many years. Of all the sites considered for expansion, the old Manhattanville manufacturing area in West Harlem made the most sense:

    • A primarily non-residential area that was underutilized and lacked community amenities
    • A contiguous space offering a minimum of 5 million net square feet, plus space for support services
    • Proximity to public transportation
    • Proximity to Columbia's Morningside Heights and Washington Heights campuses
    • An area that would provide an opportunity for the University to expand its already extensive community service programs to anchor the University as a committed neighborhood partner

    Columbia also investigated a 9-acre parcel in Riverside South, between West 59th and West 62nd Streets. But for a variety of reasons, including limited size and significant distance from existing campuses, other options were less than ideal options. Consideration was also given to whether some facilities should be moved to the suburbs. But ultimately, Columbia's core identity and unique qualities come from the fact that it is located in New York City.

    Additionally, in 2002, after conducting extensive community outreach and consultation, the New York City Economic Development Corporation issued the West Harlem Master Plan, which recommended Manhattanville for new development. Although there are a small number of people living in 132 apartments in seven walk-up buildings on the northernmost corner of this 17-acre site, it is an area currently zoned for light manufacturing, of which very little remains.

    back to top

  • How will the University use this expansion?

    The plan seeks to establish a vibrant, new urban center not only for education and scholarship, but for local economic opportunity and civic and cultural life. It provides a new platform for the University to engage with our community, increasing involvement in local public schools, after-school programs, public health, legal services, and many other University–community partnerships that enhance the quality of life for everyone on and off campus. (A list of these community service programs is available online.)

    The University's expansion in the old Manhattanville manufacturing zone is a long-term plan that isn't expected to be completed until the year 2030. The plan is based on the understanding that it is impossible to know today all the new areas of learning and discovery that might arise decades into the future.

    What is known, however, are elements of the first phase of the proposed development. They include:

    • the Jerome L. Greene Science Center, led by Nobel Prize-winning scientists who will conduct research with implications for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and motor neuron diseases, among others;
    • a new site for Columbia Business School;
    • a new home for the School of International and Public Affairs and space for international centers and institutes;
    • Columbia's School of the Arts, which would partner with and add to the cultural activity that is one of Harlem's historic strengths;
    • open space to be utilized by the community and the University;
    • a permanent site for the University-assisted public secondary school for math, science, and engineering geared toward high-performing students in Upper Manhattan that opened in temporary space at P.S. 125 in September 2007.

    The first phase would also include renovations to University-owned buildings on the south side of 125th Street—Prentis Hall as part of the new School of the Arts and the 560 Riverside Dr. faculty apartments, which would have a new lobby on 125th Street to further enhance pedestrian activity along this important corridor.


    back to top

  • Will streets be closed off to create this new urban campus?

    No. This isn't a traditional college campus design with iron gates and closed streets. Columbia's plan for a 21st-century urban university keeps open every street in the existing grid and reanimates them with academic, commercial, and cultural activity. The plan provides street-level retail opportunities for local entrepreneurs and local consumers along 125th Street, Broadway, and Twelfth Avenue. It also improves pedestrian access to the Hudson River waterfront and better connects residential areas with the new waterfront park now under construction from 125th to 132nd Streets.

    Although some streets will need to temporarily close for safety purposes during construction, specifically, 130th, 131st, and 132nd Streets, the completed plan leaves every existing street open to vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

    back to top

  • How will Columbia schools relocated to Manhattanville retain a sense of integration with the rest of the University?

    The Manhattanville campus will be very close to the Morningside campus, less than five blocks away. Although the distance is easily walkable, there will also be public transit with buses and subway on Broadway. There is already a University shuttle service with vans that Columbia runs between its various campuses and athletic facilities in Upper Manhattan and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York. More important, the Manhattanville campus will itself become a new center of academic, cultural, and civic life in the surrounding West Harlem community.

    back to top

  • How much of the space does Columbia already own or control?

    Columbia owns, is under contract to purchase, or is in long-term lease relationships for about seventy percent of the land under consideration, including such buildings as Prentis Hall (632 W. 125th St.), 560 Riverside Dr., and the Studebaker building (615 W. 131st St.). Public agencies such as the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and ConEdison own an additional 20 percent. The University is currently negotiating with owners in the area to acquire additional properties.

    For more information about the property currently owned by Columbia, visit the Phased Development section of this site.

    back to top

  • Why does Columbia need the entire 17 acres?

    Acquiring the 17-acre site is a matter of both wise planning and long-term thinking about what it takes to create a productive academic community in an urban environment. Approaching the project in this unified manner, rather than acquiring space in an ad hoc fashion, allows both the University and the community to put all the issues on the table at once. Piece-by-piece acquisition would compromise the project's cohesion and engineering while also leaving the community wondering what the University's next move might be. Second, the existing warehouses in the area provide few local jobs and contribute little to a civic streetscape. So it is difficult to create a people-oriented urban design around such facilities.

    The University’s proposal includes contiguous underground space for parking, loading docks, and utilities. This would permit the majority of deliveries, mail, maintenance vehicles, equipment service trucks, and sanitation to be handled underground – as it is, for example, at Rockefeller Center. This would reduce the amount of street level truck traffic, noise, exhaust, and pedestrian disturbance. With fewer loading docks and service entrances, it would also maximize the amount of space available for active ground floor uses, such as retail stores and restaurants.

    back to top

  • Will local residents be displaced?

    There are fewer than 130 occupied residential units on the entire 17-acre area. (see maps). Columbia has committed to relocate all residents to equal or better housing in the area. For those tenants in the Tenant Interim Lease (TIL) program, the same “sweat-equity” towards ownership applies and tenants would have the opportunity to own their apartment unit sooner. See Dec. 19 press release.

    back to top

  • What will Columbia do to help people who are living on the site?

    Columbia has committed to providing equal or better affordable housing in the same community for the current residents of some 130 apartments (which comprise less than 4% of the largely former industrial site) and has secured local sties to provide for a net increase in such affordable units

    For those tenants in the Tenant Interim Lease (TIL) program, the same “sweat-equity” towards ownership applies and tenants would have the opportunity to own their apartment unit sooner.

    The University will not under any circumstances request that the state use eminent domain on residential properties

    back to top

  • Will any of the historic buildings be preserved?

    Yes. Prentis Hall (632 W. 125th St.), the Studebaker building (615 W. 131st St.), the interior of the original West Market Diner, and the Nash building (3280 Broadway) will be preserved and restored.

    back to top

  • Will Columbia use eminent domain to acquire the space?

    Eminent domain is not the University's power, nor can the University threaten its use. Eminent domain is a public process for ensuring that property owners receive fair market value for their land. It can be exercised by the state only after a determination—based on appropriate study and a public hearing—that it is in the public interest to assemble parcels of property for a project that will bring long-term civic improvement; economic benefits to the state, city, and community; or remove blight.

    Therefore, as part of the standard development process, the University has requested that the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) consider whether its exercise of eminent domain is appropriate in this area.

    University officials have consistently stated their preference to acquire the remaining properties through a business negotiation process. Negotiating fair, win–win deals with many landowners in the Manhattanville area is how Columbia has been able to acquire approximately 80 percent of the private property in 17-acre development site. However, the University has always reserved the right to request the state to consider eminent domain as a last resort. As part of this development process, a General Project Plan (GPP) is being developed, and ultimately it must be presented to and approved by the ESDC board after public review and comment.

    The University will not under any circumstances request that the state use eminent domain on residential properties.

    back to top

  • How will the local community benefit from this expansion?

    • University jobs: 6,000 new University jobs with health, education and retirement benefits;
    • Construction jobs: on average, 1,200 construction-related jobs per year over the next quarter century;
    • These opportunities aren't just for professors and researchers with advanced degrees. About half of these jobs are expected to include, for example, accountants, administrative assistants, aides, groundskeepers, mechanics, lab technicians, library assistants, and cashiers, providing a mix of jobs for people who are just starting out in the workforce and for those with several years of work experience.
    • Columbia will invest $20 million in seed capital for an independent affordable housing fund that will leverage up to 1,100 new affordable units in the community.
    • The University will invest an additional $4 million to expand ongoing support for tenant legal services, including protection from unlawful eviction or harassment.
    • Columbia will minimize potential demand for local housing associated with job creation by building nearly 1,000 units of University housing for Columbia affiliates.
    • New commercial life, including an estimated 650 jobs created within the stores, restaurants, and other vendors that will be located on the active ground floor spaces of University buildings;
    • Programs and services: The University currently provides more than 100 healthcare, education, and legal services programs and seeks to expand them.
    • New trees, lighting, street furnishings, public art, and green spaces, including a new 1-acre park all designed to better connect residential West Harlem with a new waterfront park now under construction along the Hudson River;
    • Education: a site for the new Columbia-assisted public secondary school for math, science, and engineering geared toward high-performing students from Upper Manhattan neighborhoods. In addition, Columbia affiliate Teachers College will develop a new pre-K-8 public school with the New York City Department of Education.
    back to top

  • Who will benefit from the University jobs created by the expansion?

    Today, nearly one-third of Columbia's staff and administrators live in northern Manhattan—and the University's academic expansion are expected to, when completed, place an estimated total of 6,900 jobs in Manhattanville.

    back to top

  • How many construction jobs will be created by this project?

    Full construction of the revitalization plan is projected to generate an estimated average of 1,200 construction-related jobs in New York each year for nearly a quarter century.

    back to top

  • What is Columbia doing to ensure that minority-, women-, and locally owned businesses obtain contracts?

    The University is committed to ensuring that minority-, women-, and locally owned businesses participate fully in Columbia's contracting opportunities. For instance, 36 percent of the University's construction spending from 2002 to 2005 has gone to minority-, women-, and locally owned businesses. In addition, Columbia joined with the Mayor's Commission on Construction Opportunities to ensure that we are doing everything possible to support the growth of these businesses.

    back to top

  • What kinds of businesses will be in Manhattanville? Will Fairway be affected?

    There will be locally owned stores, restaurants, and other community amenities in the ground floors of buildings along West 125th Street, Broadway, and Twelfth Avenue. In renting out these spaces, the University will maintain its long-standing policy of favoring local entrepreneurs serving local consumer needs.

    Fairway Market is not in the proposed project area.

    Additionally, we are committed to supporting and building on the historical and economically important arts and culture aspects of Harlem.

    back to top

  • What kind of research will Columbia do?

    The University anticipates that many different types of academic inquiry will occur in Manhattanvile, reflecting the various interests of the academic departments that will be located there. Investigations of history, business, the arts, and other research will all happen in the new facilities. As new areas of intellectual discovery emerge in the decades ahead, Columbia will be well-positioned to craft its growth and research to adapt to future challenges.

    A centerpiece of the new facilities will be the Jerome L. Greene Science Center, a new research and teaching facility that will serve as the intellectual home for Columbia's expanding initiative in mind, brain, and behavior. The center will include laboratories in which Columbia scientists will explore the causal relationship between gene function, brain wiring, and behavior. The center will be led by renowned neurobiologist Thomas Jessell and Nobel laureates Richard Axel and Eric Kandel. The work done there will play a key role in helping to fight devastating diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and will be instrumental in helping to improve the lives of those suffering from autism, dementia, and schizophrenia.

    The center is made possible by a gift from Dawn M. Greene and the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, to honor her late husband, Jerome L. Greene (Columbia College '26, Columbia Law School '28), a prominent New York lawyer, real estate investor, and philanthropist.

    back to top

  • What safety measures will Columbia have in place?

    Columbia is committed to the highest standard of health and safety in the workplace, environment, and community. Guidelines and policies are in effect to maximize health and safety in all aspects of academic research, including in all laboratories on its campuses. Upper Manhattan is our home, too. Hundreds of Columbia faculty and their families already live adjacent to the area in 560 Riverside Drive, and thousands more will work and study there. So this is a concern and value we all share.

    Columbia has a team of 30 specially trained professionals who inspect our facilities, identify and control hazards, plan for emergencies, and provide training and education to the University community to ensure we operate as safely as possible.

    University research facilities are regularly inspected by the New York City Fire Department and are subject to inspections by other city, state, and federal agencies. Columbia University Medical Center recently partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and conducted an environmental review of all its facilities, including laboratories.

    back to top

  • What is a Level 3 research laboratory? Is that dangerous?

    Federal and professional standards define four biological safety levels for laboratories, 1 through 4. At Columbia, all but two laboratories currently operate at biological safety Levels 1 or 2, like thousands of other clinical and research settings throughout the world. In fact, Level 3 labs can already be found at most academic medical centers in New York City today, and the materials used in Level 3 labs are found in virtually all hospitals. Weill-Cornell Medical School, Mt. Sinai Hospital, and Rockefeller University on the Upper East Side, as well as NYU's medical center in Midtown East, all have such labs in busy, densely populated New York neighborhoods.

    Researchers at Columbia's two Level 3 labs at the Mailman School of Public Health are working to address health challenges that affect people in our community and throughout the world.

    The Manhattanville plan does not include any Level 4 (the highest hazard level) labs.

    back to top

  • Does Columbia do any classified research for the government?

    No. Columbia's internal statutes explicitly forbid the University from taking part in classified research. The mission of the University is the discovery and communication of knowledge, a value that would be impeded by the restrictions of classified work.

    back to top

  • What else will the University do to make sure that any expansion is done in a way that protects and enhances the local environment?

    Columbia has committed to using sustainable design and meeting the Leadership in Energy and Enviornmental Design (LEED) Silver standards regarding materials, energy alternatives, and water recycling. Columbia will place heating, cooling, truck delivery, parking, and other services underground to ensure pedestrian-friendly, environmentally appealing streets and public spaces. Additionally, Columbia’s proposal has been selected for a national pilot program for its environmentally sustainable “green“ design.

    The University is working with environmental experts to develop a model approach to clean construction for the proposed facilities. Columbia will apply the best available diesel emissions control technologies to the project in order to lower emissions. Our commitment is to develop this project as a leading example for minimizing air quality impacts of construction activities. The University will share information and innovations with others to create wider demand for clean construction management. During construction, the University also will clean up waste left behind during past decades of industrial use.

    The University has established the Office of Environmental Stewardship, which pulls together interdisciplinary and interdepartmental teams to lessen the University’s environmental footprint and advance environmental stewardship and sustainability practices. Columbia is known for its path-breaking research and academic programs on the environment, including architecture, earth and environmental engineering, the causes of asthma, and public policy.

    back to top

  • What about traffic and parking concerns?

    The plan provides parking to minimize potential impacts and locates parking facilities underground as part of an overall effort to maximize above-ground areas for academic, retail, and open spaces.

    back to top

  • How can I get more information about Columbia's plan?

    A good place to start is with this Web site. You can also request printed materials from the Office of Government and Community Affairs by emailing communityaffairs@columbia.edu or calling (212) 854-4289. Copies of our self-guided tour to view the area first-hand are also available. Take the No. 1 subway to the 125th Street station and walk around between 125th and 133rd Streets, between Broadway and Twelfth Avenue. There are several city buses that travel to this area as well. Check the MTA map at www.mta.info.

    back to top