MSK Reveals Plans For 600-Foot-Tall Cancer Center On York Avenue

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Memorial Sloan Kettering filed plans Tuesday to build on York Avenue a 600-foot tower they say will better allow them to provide superior treatment to cancer patients who need complex care, city records show.

The proposed MSK Pavilion would replace medical student housing and administrative offices at 1233 York Ave., near East 66th Street, with a 31-story complex, according to newly filed zoning documents.

If approved, the pavilion will total nearly 1 million square feet, with 28 operating suites and 202 inpatient beds, according to zoning documents.

Plans also include a skybridge across East 67th Street to connect the pavilion to MSK's main hospital, according to plans contingent on Transportation department approval.

The plans would also require rezoning approvals on York Avenue to allow for the size of the new building.

The pavilion, first announced last spring, integrates new technology that will benefit cancer patients, representatives say in zoning documents and a presentation to Community Board 8.

"[It] is intended to be devoted entirely to patient care for those whose cancer treatments cannot be addressed through MSKCC’s extensive network of ambulatory services," zoning documents state.

The new facility will help MSK address mounting cancer rates, fueled by an aging population, projected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase 50 percent by 2050, said former CEO Craig Thompson said in a statement last spring.

"The new Pavilion is a critical component in ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to the best doctors and scientists in the world well into the future," Thompson said.

Recent data show roughly 42,000 New Yorkers were diagnosed with cancer per year between 2015 and 2019, according to the state Health department.

Younger New Yorkers are also experiencing rising rates of prostate, colon and breast cancer, the hospital said.

If approved, the new pavilion would expand Memorial Sloan Kettering's already substantial presence in the neighborhood.

The world-renowned cancer center has eight facilities on the Upper East Side, not including its main York Avenue campus, which the new pavilion would join.

Memorial Sloan Kettering's most recent expansion was the David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care, a distinctive 25-story facility completed in 2020, facing the East River between East 73rd and 74th streets.

In January, the hospital laid off more than 300 workers in response to poor economic outlooks.

The hospital will present its plans to the Community Board 8 Zoning Committee on Tuesday evening.