Columbia university is pressing ahead with its 17-acre expansion into Manhattanville, a West Harlem neighborhood just north of the school's main 32-acre campus in Morningside Heights. Preconstruction work on the $6.3 billion project began in 2008, with completion of the first building expected in 2016.
The project has faced considerable opposition since it was proposed. In 2003, Columbia assembled a star-studded cast ' Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and James Corner Field Operations ' to design the master plan. Their scheme, unveiled in 2004, featured tree-lined quads and 16 new buildings for academic, administrative, and housing purposes. All but four of the area's structures, mostly warehouses and tenements, were targeted for demolition.
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