In a very surprising decision late yesterday, the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court voted 3-2 against Columbia University’s proposed condemnation as part of its proposal to expand its campus into the Manhattanville neighborhood.

The Court questioned the accuracy of the blight study.  The argument that the area was underutilized and therefore blighted was not convincing to the Court.

Additionally, the Court questioned the impartiality of the consultant hired to conduct the blight study.  The majority decision noted that the consultant hired by the Empire State Development Corporation was the same as the one hired by Columbia University.  Judge Catterson implied that there was a conflict of interest and the conclusions of the study were tainted.

The case is expected to be appealed to the Court of Appeals.  It is the Court of Appeals that a few weeks ago ruled on a very similar case involving eminent domain, the Atlantic Yards case.  The Court, at the time, said that it was not their role to determine the validity of the blight study.  It will be interesting to see how they rule in the Columbia case.

As for Columbia, they still own a vast majority of the land in the project area and are expected to go forward with their expansion plan.