The university hopes to build a series of buildings for science, business and the arts over the course of several decades on the site near the Hudson River, where the streets are lined with warehouses, factories and auto repair shops. Columbia has already acquired the bulk of the land it needs, but the owners of four warehouses and two gas stations refused to sell and sued to stop the taking of their property. There are also seven tenements in the area, which are not subject to condemnation, but Columbia hopes to move the tenants to comparable apartments elsewhere.

Norman Siegel, who represented the losing property owners, said he was still reviewing the decision. “We’re extremely disappointed,” he said. Mr. Siegel had hoped that the lower court decision would serve as a roadmap for others hoping to oppose the state’s use of eminent-domain powers.

Nicholas Sprayregen, the owner of the four warehouses who had refused to sell to Columbia, could not be reached for comment.

Image Nicholas Sprayregen owns four Tuck-it-Away Self Storage buildings in the area including this one at Broadway in between 131 St. and 132 St. The storage facility at left is on the land that is being taken over by Columbia University. Credit... Raymond McCrea Jones/The New York Times

The ruling cited a decision in a similar eminent-domain case last year involving the Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, where the state was condemning property on behalf of a developer who planned to build a basketball arena for the Nets and up to 6,000 apartments. “We ruled for Atlantic Yards, and if we could rule in favor of a basketball arena, surely we could rule for a nonprofit university,” the court said Thursday in its decision, which was written by Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick.