Upper East Siders Sue City Over Lenox Hill Hospital Redevelopment: Court Docs

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A group of Upper East Siders are suing the city over its approval of the expansion of Northwell Health's Lenox Hill Hospital, court documents filed Tuesday show.

The group, led by a nonprofit called The Committee to Protect Our Lenox Hill Neighborhood, argues that city officials unlawfully approved the $2 billion project, and named both City Hall and Northwell Health as defendants.

The group argues that the redevelopment would disrupt to the surrounding neighborhood, and is suing to get the city to rescind its approval of the project and cancel the project. The version of the project in question has a construction timeline of eight years and a rise of 370 feet tall over Lexington Avenue.

In the petition filed Tuesday, the plaintiffs accuse the city of "illegal spot-zoning," which is when a city gives a single property special zoning rules that don’t match the surrounding neighborhood’s zoning.

In the petition, the plaintiffs write that "the proposed project would have devastating consequences to community character, urban planning and design, and public safety," adding that that Northwell’s project "would afford no corresponding public benefit whatsoever to the community."

The plan to build out Lenox Hill Hospital was approved once-and-for-all back in August, when City Council unanimously voted to rezone a portion of East 77th Street to make way for the expansion, after a heated public review period that lasted most of the spring and summer.

An earlier version of the plan, when was under public review, was rejected by Community Board 8, which voted 23-15 with two abstentions back in April.

"As per policy, Northwell does not comment on active litigation," a spokesperson for the Northwell Health medical center said.

"However, we stand firmly by our proposal for the modernization and redevelopment of Lenox Hill Hospital. The project underwent an exhaustive, years-long public review process that included extensive engagement with the community, elected officials and city agencies. The approved plan represents a responsible and necessary investment to modernize a 160-year-old hospital campus to ensure it can continue to provide quality care for New Yorkers for generations to come."

With the new plan, the hospital will 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.

The latest plan also creates an ambulance bay within the building's footprint to reduce traffic on the street, and includes a community benefits package that would pour $25 million into the 77th Street 6 train subway station as well as $2.5 million for neighborhood beautification and tree maintenance.

"We are reviewing the case," Nicholas Paolucci, the New York City Department of Law's director of public affairs and press secretary, told Patch.

The lawsuit was first reported by Crain's New York.

This is a developing story and will be updated. For questions and tips, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.