Bump in the Road for Columbia's Expansion Plans

"Columbia embarked on its first major expansion in 75 years in 2003, saying it had outgrown its cramped Morningside Heights campus. It planned to replace the low-scale industrial buildings north of 125th Street with school buildings, laboratories, restaurants, a jazz club and tree-lined streets.

The court's decision is not fatal to to its expansion plan. It already owns or controls 91 percent of the 17-acres–61 of 67 buildings–in the project area. It can simply build around the other property owners, or come to some sort of agreement. But the state and the university had always sought the entire site."