Reader Poll: Do You Support The Lenox Hill Hospital Development?

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A long-fought-over plan to expand an Upper East Side hospital is nearing the finish line for its public review process, and the City Council is expected to vote on the plan within the next month.

The plan for Northwell's Lenox Hill Hospital would build extra stories and modernize many parts of the hospital on East 77th Street between Lexington and Park avenues, hospital officials say.

In one version of the construction plans, the building would rise 436 feet over Lexington Avenue but taper down to 195 feet on East 77th Street and East 76th Street. In another, newer plan, the building would come to 395 feet over Lexington Avenue, and drop down to 360 feet over the side streets.

With either plan, the construction would take around nine years and transform all patient rooms into single-bed rooms, update operating rooms, and add a new center specifically for labor and delivery patients, hospital officials said.

"We’re proud of the significant improvements made through community engagement, including reduced building heights, accelerated construction timelines and expanded neighborhood partnerships, and we remain committed to collaborating with all stakeholders to bring this essential project to life," a spokesperson for the hospital told Patch.

So far, the City Planning Commission has voted in favor of the plan, as well as the Manhattan Borough President, but in April, Community Board 8 voted 23-15 with two abstentions to reject Northwell's proposal.

"This isn’t smart planning; it’s an aggressive overreach that would be vastly out of scale with anything in the surrounding area and violate long-established zoning protections that have preserved Lexington Avenue's unique character," Nuha Ansari, executive director of Friends Of The Upper East Side, told Patch.

A decision by the City Council is final unless the Mayor vetoes it. The Council, with a two-thirds majority, can override the Mayor's veto.

Upper East Siders: What do you think about the plan? Take our reader poll:

For questions and tips, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.