Blood Center Rezoning Nears Last Approval After City Council Deal

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — After months of public scrutiny and days of strained negotiations by lawmakers, the New York Blood Center rezoning appeared set to pass the City Council on Wednesday after leaders reached a deal to shorten the controversial tower and fund neighborhood programs.

Most notably, the agreement reduces the Blood Center's research tower on East 67th Street to 233 feet tall — more than 100 feet shorter than the 334-foot building proposed last fall. The rezoning passed a Council subcommittee Wednesday afternoon and was expected to reach the full Council for final approval within two weeks.

The rezoning's passage goes against the wishes of Ben Kallos, the Upper East Side Council member whose steadfast opposition initially seemed to imperil the project. By passing it anyway, lawmakers are upending the years-old practice known as "member deference" in which Kallos would have the ability to kill projects on his home turf.

The deal was announced Wednesday afternoon by Speaker Corey Johnson, East Side Councilmember Keith Powers, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and two other Council members. Also included is $10.65 million in funding from the Blood Center for St. Catherine's Park — the green space across the street that emerged as a central point of contention in the land-use battle.

The adjacent Julia Richman Education Complex will receive $2 million, Powers told Patch. The deal also includes a provision that would prevent the Blood Center's new building from being resold or redeveloped.

The 233-foot height includes 15 feet of mechanical stories, according to Powers. In addition to being shorter than the original proposal, it is also smaller than the 276-foot tower that the nonprofit Blood Center proposed as a compromise measure last month.

During last month's City Council hearing, The Blood Center said its shorter tower would help reduce the amount of shadows cast on St. Catherine's Park, which has been at the center of neighborhood pushback. Other concessions touted by developers Longfellow Real Estate Partners included adding soundproofing to the school complex to mitigate construction noise.

"A troubling precedent"

Speaking before a Council committee Wednesday, Kallos said the approval would set "a troubling precedent," describing the Blood Center's refusal to modify its proposal when it was met with opposition from the community board and local officials.

"We have had more conversations in 36 hours than we did in the preceding 36 months," Kallos said of this week's negotiations. "We came close to a win-win for both sides, but we haven’t gotten there."

Blood Center Vice President Rob Purvis hailed the vote in a statement on Wednesday, saying the new headquarters would "position New York to be a life science innovation hub," create jobs and create billions of dollars in economic output.

"Our vision for a state-of-the-art life science facility will not only ensure the nonprofit Blood Center continues to provide safe, affordable blood services to the region’s hospitals, but enable the center to significantly expand its life-saving research on COVID-19 and blood-related diseases in collaboration with institutions and biotechnology partners all under the same roof," Purvis said.

The organization still plans to break ground next year and complete the project by 2026, a spokesperson said. Once finished, the Blood Center only intends to lease the bottom few floors of the building, while Longfellow will rent out the remaining stories to other companies.

A polarizing proposal

Nearly every Upper East Side public official came out against the rezoning, including U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, State Sen. Liz Krueger and incoming Councilmember Julie Menin. Brewer also opposed the initial rezoning before coming out in support of Wednesday's deal.

Neighbors, too, showcased their opposition, 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.

In recent weeks, though, the tide appeared to shift in favor of the development, as lawmakers suggested the city's need for state-of-the-art 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 took on a racialized aspect: 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 last week.

First unveiled in October 2020, the expansion was described by Blood Center leaders as a necessary project. The organization had long since outgrown its 91-year-old, three-story brick headquarters, which lacks adequate lab facilities, leaders said.

"Our facility is very old, it's outdated, it's almost impossible to recruit people into," Blood Center President Chris Hillyer told Community Board 8 last fall, in one of his only appearances before the group.

The Blood Center provides up to 90 percent of New York's blood supply, Crain's reported this month, describing its evolution into 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.

Leaders have said the new headquarters, dubbed Center East, will serve as a state-of-the art life sciences hub that will help further the Blood Center's mission, including its prominent role in the city's response to the coronavirus pandemic. They also say the project will help remake the Upper East Side into a research corridor, allowing for more collaboration with Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Rockefeller University and other institutions.

Previous coverage:

• 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?