A New York appeals court says property owners can't be forced to give up about a tenth of the land Columbia University wants for a major expansion.
Columbia declined to comment on how Thursday's ruling would affect its plans to build new housing, laboratories and other
facilities.
A lawyer for holdout property owners says Columbia already owns or controls about 91 percent of the 17 acres it's seeking in west
Harlem.
A state development agency planned to secure the rest for Columbia by using the government's power to take land for certain
purposes.
The state Supreme Court's Appellate Division says taking the properties to benefit an elite private university is unconstitutional and unwarranted.
The Empire State Development Corp. calls the decision wrong.
