Upper East Siders Vote On Controversial Hospital Rezoning

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A packed house at the Brick Presbyterian Church witnessed the Upper East Side community board members reject a long-fought-over plan to rezone a portion of East 77th Street to expand Northwell's Lenox Hill Hospital on Wednesday night.

The vote ran 23-15 with two community board members abstaining.

The vote was over a project — in talks since 2019 — that would build extra stories and modernize many parts of the hospital on East 77th Street between Lexington and Park avenues, which Northwell Health representatives said are far below current industry standards.

"There needs to be cutting-edge technology in every department, and you can't do that in a building that's somewhere between 50 and 150 years old," Jacob Scheinerman, the vice president of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital, told Patch at the meeting. " When you think about care for patients and building a hospital, you can't just be thinking about this week and six months from now and five years from now. We're talking about generations from now. That's why this is so important."

However, a vocal group of Upper East Siders — including organizations like Friends of the Upper East Side, The New York Landmarks Conservancy, Carnegie Hill Neighbors, and CIVITAS — have all opposed the project and are advocating for a new plan to be drawn up that is closer to the existing zoning of the block.

"What they're asking to do is astronomical," Stacy Krusch, a member of Committee to Protect Our Lenox Hill Neighborhood, told Patch at the meeting. "It's the size of a Midtown office building in a residential neighborhood, and, I mean, there's no one who is not for renovating and modernizing the hospital, but they need to do it within their existing zoning. Zoning should be sacrosanct."

The NYC Department of City Planning gave Northwell the green light to renovate the medical center and add extra stories to the building this March, which launched the mandatory public review process, the first step in finalizing construction plans.

Wednesday night's Community Board 8 vote was the kickoff to the public review.

Inside the meeting

The crowded meeting room featured members of Community Board 8, Lenox Hill doctors in white lab coats, members of a construction union, and more than 100 Upper East Siders. Only community board members were authorized to speak and ask questions at the meeting.

Over the two-hour meeting, community board members asked Lenox Hill's executive director Daniel Baker questions about the project, voiced their opinions and took a vote.

Primary concerns from community board members included the length of construction, the project's financing, the effect on the patients, and the new building's height and width.

"The community isn't against the hospital modernizing, but they just don't feel that the plan that's presented really justifies the modernization," Valerie Mason, the chair of Community Board 8, told Patch. "We are very blessed in this district, and we have quite a few hospitals. If you go to Lexington Avenue and 77th Street tomorrow morning, the sidewalks are overwhelmed with people. It's really difficult to get in and out, and I don't think we really saw a fully thought out plan as to how this project was going to change that and for the better."

Mason voted to disapprove the plan.

"Remember, any one of us could be those patients who will need these facilities," Community Board 8 member Sebastian Clarke, who voted to approve the project, said.

"There are complaints we've been hearing — we hear about the heights of the building, we hear about the disruption from the construction. The reality is the Upper East Side already has a lot of big buildings, and that's part of what makes Manhattan work."

The renovation plans

There are two different designs currently on the table for the new building.

In one plan, the building would be built to rise 436 feet over Lexington Avenue, but taper down to 195 feet on East 77th Street and East 76th Street.

This plan would take six years of construction on the building itself and three more years of work on the building's interior, hospital officials said.

In another newer plan, the building would come to 395 feet over Lexington Avenue, and drop down to 360 feet over the side streets.

Building this plan would take six-and-a-half years of construction on the building itself, and two-and-a-half years of construction inside the building, hospital officials said.

But, with either plan, the hospital will transform all patient rooms into single-bed rooms, update operating rooms, and add new center specifically for labor and delivery patients, hospital officials said.

"Through these improvements, we are investing in a future that prioritizes quality care, efficiency and accessibility for all who walk through our doors in need,” Michael Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health, said.

What's next

The public review process is roughly seven months long. The community board vote is purely advisory — meaning the decision is ultimately up to elected city officials — but it is nonetheless influential and sends a message to their representatives of what the public wants.

Now, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine will have 30 days to review the community board's vote and hold a public hearing. From there, Levine will make his recommendation to the New York City Department of City Planning.

Then, the Department of City Planning will make its recommendations to City Council, where it will be voted on.

From there, the mayor can authorize or veto the vote.

"I'm still optimistic that something good can happen here. I don't see this as an end, I see this as a beginning, and I think that something can be worked out," Mason told Patch.

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