Manhattan Self-Storage Owner Files Suit to Contest Eminent Domain

Nicholas Sprayregen, owner of Tuck-It-Away Self Storage in Manhattan, N.Y., on Wednesday filed a lawsuit to dispute the seizure of his land via eminent domain. The suit is against Empire State Development Corp. to contest its recent approval of Columbia University’s planned $6 billion expansion in West Harlem.
 
Columbia, which plans to spread a new campus across 17 acres in Manhattanville, stands to take over four properties owned by Sprayregen as well as those owned by one other holdout. The university says the project will create 6,000 university jobs as well as 1,200 construction jobs over a 25-year period.
 
A report provided by the state claims the largely industrial area as “blighted” and suffering from “lack of development and disinvestment.” The university already owns 76 percent of the properties in the area, with the city owning or having control over another 15 percent.
 
Columbia is also facing resistance from a family that owns two local gas stations.
 
Source: Columbia Spectator, Two Landowners, Two Lawsuits Fight Eminent Domain in M'ville