Columbia washes hands of $96M Manhattanville regeneration fund after decades of mismanagement by nonprofit

Source: New York Post

A nearly $100 million fund intended to revitalize West Harlem has been mired in mismanagement, racism and inertia, The Post has found — with not one major project either conceived or built with the money in nearly two decades. In 2009, Columbia University signed a deal handing more than $96 million to a newly formed nonprofit, the West Harlem Local Development Corporation, to make amends for the displacement of local residents during an expansion. The school’s incursion into the Manhattanville neighborhood — from West 125th to West 134th streets, between Broadway and 12th Avenue — included constructing new arts and science centers, a business school and conference venue, at a cost of $6.