The school’s biggest expansion in more than a century has not been without controversy. Facing north, the university’s $6.3 billion Manhattanville campus is well underway, having already sprouted two glassy buildings designed by starchitect Renzo Piano. The comments by Bertelli and others get at the root of the angst surrounding the shuttering of the 125th Street McDonald's. On social media, people shared similar sentiments, along with photos. "It was almost like they didn’t care they are gentrifying the area," she said. The news, which came at the bottom, felt "nonchalant," she said. Grace Bertelli, a junior at Columbia, told Gothamist that students learned about the closure last week in an email about facilities and operational updates. The 61-year-old local resident said she regularly visits the restaurant after church with her sister.Īnother patron and local churchgoer, José Hernández, described going to McDonald’s as a weekly tradition. When I tell my son he’s going to be very devastated,” a teary Miriam Blanco told the Columbia Spectator. “You know it’s memories for the neighborhood, and I’m very sad right now. Contrary to some comments, it was not the only McDonald's in Manhattan with a drive-thru. Although not the oldest McDonald's in Manhattan (that distinction goes to the location at Broadway and 96th Street, which was the first branch to open in New York City) the one at West 125th had been operating since 1982, according to city Department of Building records. New Yorkers are used to the shuttering of mainstay restaurants, but longtime customers mourned the demise of a global juggernaut, known for its mostly unhealthy menu and super-size it culture, as if it were a mom-and-pop. The university has said that it plans to incorporate space for a new branch, but did not specify a timeline nor location. So it was not a complete surprise when last Friday, Columbia announced its closure along with intentions to demolish the McDonald’s and a neighboring row of warehouses on 125th Street. In 2004, to pave the way for its uptown expansion, Columbia bought the building and the land on which the McDonald’s stands, thereby sealing its fate. Open 24 hours, the branch featured both a parking lot and a drive-thru, seemingly extravagant amenities in an urban environment.īut its location and size also made it a rarefied real estate commodity amid New York’s development boom.
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Located right off the 1 subway station and near the West Side Highway, it catered to local residents, cabbies, and Columbia University students. It may seem odd to consider a McDonald’s a beloved neighborhood haunt, but for nearly four decades, the franchise with the trademark golden arches on the corner of Broadway and 125th Street was a fast-food nexus and gathering spot in West Harlem.