Blood Center Rezoning Approved By Council After Yearlong Battle

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The New York Blood Center's bitterly debated rezoning easily passed the City Council on Tuesday, ending a yearlong fight and paving the way for the glassy research tower to be built on East 67th Street.

The Council voted 43-5 to approve the project, breaking precedent by going against the wishes of Upper East Side member Ben Kallos, who has steadfastly opposed it for months.

Under a compromise reached earlier this month, the tower will stand 233 feet tall — over 100 feet shorter than originally proposed — with 527,000 square feet spread across 13 stories. Millions of dollars in funding will also flow to a neighboring school and park.

The nonprofit blood bank first revealed plans last October to replace its 91-year-old, three-story brick headquarters with a new state-of-the-art tower, which it dubbed Center East. To build it, it had to convince the city to alter the zoning code to allow for more density on the mid-block site between First and Second avenues, which had historically been reserved for shorter construction.

Almost immediately, neighbors rose up against the proposal, raising objections that are common in any development fight: that the initially-planned 334-foot tower was too tall for the surrounding neighborhood, and that years of construction work would be disruptive to nearby residents and students.

Other arguments against the rezoning were more particular to the neighborhood. A central point of contention became the four hours' worth of new summertime shadows that the tower would cast over St. Catherine's Park, a popular green space across the street.

Critics also questioned the Blood Center's sincerity about the scientific need for a new space, noting that it planned to lease only the bottom five floors of the tower while the developer, Boston-based Longfellow Real Estate Partners, would lease out the rest to life-science companies.

"The fight over the new Blood Center building was never about blood," Kallos said before Tuesday's vote.

"Blinded by the enclaves of privilege"

For months, those opponents dominated the discourse over the rezoning, holding a protest outside the Blood Center, packing community board meetings to rail against the proposal and filing a last-minute challenge that they hoped would derail it. Meanwhile, accusations swirled about the Mayor Bill de Blasio's relationship with the lawyers backing the Blood Center, and the New York Times reported that the city planned to offer $450 million in tax breaks to the developers, further enraging critics.

In recent weeks, though, the tide appeared to shift in favor of the development, as lawmakers suggested the city's need for modern life science facilities should matter more than Upper East Siders' aversion to dense construction. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the rezoning should pass, and Mayor-elect Eric Adams said he hoped Council members would "work together to get to yes."

The debate also got uglier: in September, a pro-Blood Center coalition led by labor groups circulated a letter casting opponents as "overwhelmingly white and wealthy" homeowners. A City Council caucus of Black, Latino and Asian members also came out in support of the rezoning this month, and Queens Councilmember I. Daneek Miller derided Kallos before Tuesday's vote, saying he was too "blinded by the enclaves of privilege to see that this project benefits the greater good."

The Blood Center provides up to 90 percent of New York's blood supply, Crain's reported this month, and has become a major player in the city's medical industry. Since 2019, it has reportedly spent upwards of $1 million to plan and promote the rezoning.

Blood Center leaders described the expansion as sorely needed, saying it has long since outgrown its existing headquarters, which lacks adequate lab facilities.

"We thank the Council and City leaders for approving this critical project," Blood Center executive vice president Rob Purvis said in a statement Tuesday. "Center East will position New York to be a global public health hub, create jobs, stimulate billions in economic output annually, and open career opportunities for local students and young professionals."

In his remarks before the vote on Tuesday, Kallos criticized the deal reached earlier this month and supported by local leaders like Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and fellow East Side Councilmember Keith Powers.

The deal included no community benefits agreement that would require the Blood Center to fulfill its promises to fund neighborhood improvements, Kallos said. He also noted that the tower's height reduction was largely achieved by shortening mechanical floors instead of reducing the usable space.

"No matter the outcome, I am committed to working with the Blood Center on a new building," said Kallos, who suggested that the organization construct a smaller building on the same site that would not require a rezoning.

An emergency protest filed earlier this month threw the rezoning's passage into question by invoking a little-used provision that threatened to raise the required vote threshold to three-quarters of the City Council. But Tuesday's wide vote margin rendered that moot.

The Blood Center plans to break ground next year and complete the project by 2026. The deal also includes $10.65 million in funding for St. Catherine's Park, $2 million for the Julia Richman Education Complex, and a provision that would prevent the Blood Center's new building from being resold or redeveloped.

Previous coverage:

• Blood Center Rezoning Nears Last Approval After City Council Deal
• Blood Center Opponents Invoke Rare Clause In Bid To Kill Project
• Blood Center Hearing: New Concessions, But Opposition Holds Firm
• Supporters Of Blood Center Tower Step Up Lobbying Ahead Of Vote
• Who Supports The Blood Center's Upper East Side Expansion?