by Daniel Costello

A New York Appelate court struck down the state's controversial 2008 use of eminent domain allowing Columbia University to buy a 17-acre site in West Harlem it wants for expansion.

In a 3-2 decision, the Appelate Division of the State Supreme Court called the state's controversial 2008 decision to take the property on behalf of Columbia "unconstitutional." Columbia wants to expand north of its upper Manhattan campus and has bought most of the land it needs. But a warehouse and gas station owner challenged the state's finding that the neighborhood is blighted and able to be condemned for sale.

 

The topic of eminent domain, and its use to clear blighted areas for economic development, is increasingly playing out in courts.

Four years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided 5-4 in Kelo v. New London that New London, Connecticut could condemn and acquire 26 acres of a neighborhood to build hotels, condos, and a Pfizer research center.

Soon after the ruling, New London spent nearly $80 million preparing the land but the redevelopment never got off the ground

Last month, Pfizer dealt a final blow to the project and the struggling seaport city by announcing that 1,400 jobs would leave the area as the pharmaceutical giant scales back amid tepid sales and a lack of new drugs in its pipeline. The move will vacate a 750,000 square foot complex built in 2001 and nothing is planned in its place.