With the City Council’s approval in hand, Columbia will begin construction on the Campbell Sports Center by the end of this month.
“Demolition of the existing small maintenance building and construction mobilization for the Campbell Sports Center is scheduled to begin in late April,” Facilities spokesperson Dan Held wrote in an email. “Construction is expected to last 12-15 months.”
Columbia’s plans for the construction of a 48,000-square-foot athletics complex cleared their final hurdle last week when the City Council approved the University’s development plans at Baker Field, which sits at 218th Street and Broadway in Inwood.
Plans for the property include a public waterfront park known as Boathouse Marsh and the Campbell Sports Center, which will include offices for coaches, a student-athlete study center, an auditorium, and meeting spaces. Held said Columbia is still finalizing the design of the Boathouse Marsh, which will include a waterfront park area designed by James Corner Field Operations, the landscape architecture company that designed the High Line park.
Columbia has almost secured the funding it needs to begin development on the $50 million plan, said Corey Aronstam, deputy director of development for athletics.
“We have raised a majority of the funds necessary to start the project,” she said.
Meanwhile, Columbia has already begun to prepare for construction, Held said, referring to small holes known as geotechnical borings that have been drilled into the ground around the site.
A sticking point in the city approval process was neighborhood residents’ desire to have Columbia guarantee certain benefits for Inwood in exchange for a zoning waiver, which is allowing the University to provide only 1.5 percent of its property for public waterfront access instead of the 15 percent required by law.
Columbia officials are still working on finalizing a community partnership agreement with Inwood residents. Last week, members of Advocates for Inwood Manhattan met briefly with Columbia and City Council member Robert Jackson to go over a tentative community agreement. But resident Susan Ryan, an organizer from AIM, said the community is still waiting for a response from Columbia.
“The ball is in Columbia’s court,” Ryan said. “We are hopeful that Columbia University will come back to us with an agreement that is legally enforceable that has substantive community benefits, and that Columbia will honor its commitment to be a good neighbor.”
University spokesperson Victoria Benitez said that Columbia officials “look forward to meeting with the community for project updates and ongoing collaborations.”
“University officials will continue to work with elected officials and the local community to provide long-term enjoyment of the new Boathouse Marsh and Columbia’s athletic facilities by both local residents and the University,” Benitez said.
Council member Jackson could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Ryan said she and other residents are hopeful that longtime concerns like disruptive stadium lighting will be resolved by the agreement.
“It’s a really significant issue—it’s been going on for years,” she said, noting that light pollution affects both residents on 218th Street and neighborhood wildlife.
AIM member Roger Meyer said that the group is still confident that they will come to a satisfactory agreement, as long as Columbia keeps the conversation open.
“Columbia University can really be a vibrant addition,” Meyer said. “But it does take an ongoing and open dialogue with the community, which we hope we’ve helped set a precedent for in northern Manhattan.”
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