UES Hospital To Break Ground On New Building Over FDR Drive

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Hospital for Special Surgery is weeks away from breaking ground on a new 12-story building that will soar over the FDR Drive and reshape the East River waterfront.

The new HSS Kellen Tower will be built on a platform over the FDR at East 71st Street. Costing tens of millions of dollars, the facility, once complete, will cover 94,000 square feet and expand the hospital's care for joint replacement and spine conditions and add exam rooms and offices, among other uses.

Work will begin in October and will wrap up in 2024, representatives told Community Board 8 on Wednesday.

Most notably for neighbors, the project will require removing the pedestrian footbridge that links East 71st Street with the East River Esplanade. The hospital will build a temporary bridge in its place during construction, but it cannot open until May 2022 due to ongoing Parks Department renovations between 68th and 70th streets.

Since July, HSS has already been at work preparing the soon-to-be construction site on the Esplanade, on the hospital campus and on the FDR Drive off-ramp at East 71st Street. The first phase of construction will involve constructing foundations and building supports on both sides of the FDR.

Work will ramp up in spring 2022, when a barge and crane will pull up on the East River alongside the FDR to build the platform spanning the highway. All materials will be delivered from the river, with little need for street-clogging trucks, HSS vice president Michael Rawlings told the community board on Wednesday.

The hospital has funded several improvements to the Esplanade in recent years in exchange for expanding its own campus. As part of the current project, HSS plans to make improvements to the walkway between 72nd and 78th streets.

But board member Tricia Shimamura asked Wednesday why the hospital had not pledged any money toward fixing the growing sinkhole at East 71st Street, and asked that the hospital do more to improve the cramped footbridge there, which is narrow and often filled with trash, she said.

The hospital plans to share updates about its new building via email, and neighbors can send questions to publicrelations@hss.edu.

An earlier version of this article misstated the project's estimated completion date.