Columbia's controversial expansion okayed

Columbia University's plan for rezoning portions of Manhattanville received a green light from the New York City Council in December, allowing the school to move forward with developing a controversial, 17-acre campus expansion designed by Renzo Piano and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). The Councils vote came one month after the city's Planning Commission recommended that it approve a modified plan that grants most of the elements Columbia proposed--a sprawling, mixed-use campus with 4.8 million square feet of boxy, glass-walled buildings, and 2 million square feet of subterranean space located 10 blocks north of the existing campus--but also addresses concerns raised by local residents and businesses.