Blood Center's Upper East Side Tower Takes Heat From New Angles

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The commercial tower and rezoning being pursued by the New York Blood Center continues to draw fierce opposition on the Upper East Side, as neighbors rolled out new lines of attack at a public meeting this week.

More than 180 people tuned into Tuesday's Community Board 8 zoning and development committee meeting, where residents heaped criticism on the proposed 334-foot-tall building on East 67th Street and the mid-block rezoning that would be needed to build it.

The clock is ticking on the proposal, which was first announced last October: the city has now certified the project under the monthslong land use review process known as ULURP, meaning the community board has until June 28 to hold a hearing and take a formal vote.

After that, it will go to the Borough President before heading to the mayor and City Council, who will get a final say sometime this fall.

The nonprofit Blood Center has said the building would serve as a key life-sciences hub, contributing to its research into diseases like HIV and COVID-19.

Neighbors, however, have repeatedly criticized the fact that the Blood Center would occupy only five of the building's 16 stories while leasing out the rest to tenants, fueling accusations that the project is motivated more by financial considerations than by public health.

"It is evil"

Neighbor Marty Bell, an outspoken opponent of the project, took aim Tuesday at one of the Blood Center's key defenses of the expansion: that it would encourage collaboration between Blood Center researchers and those at nearby institutions like Weill Cornell Medical Center and Rockefeller University, thanks to the short distances between their campuses.

Bell shared letters he had obtained from three public health experts — including a former director of the National Institutes of Health and a vaccine researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital — who insisted that physical proximity is not a key factor in modern research.

"I have been involved in various aspects of medical research for more than 25 years, and never once has 'close physical proximity' been the sole determinative factor, in the selection of fellow researchers with whom I have collaborated," wrote Dr. Mark Poznansky, the vaccine researcher, in an April 23 letter to the board.

Bell also claimed the Blood Center has misrepresented how frequently it works with its fellow East Side institutions: a review of the public research documents on its website showed Blood Center scientists have worked more frequently with out-of-state researchers than those in the neighborhood, he said.

"This project isn’t just wrong — it is evil," Bell said.

Reached for comment, Blood Center Executive Vice President Rob Purvis did not directly address the claims but said that the country's most successful life-science centers "are anchored by clusters of institutions that benefit deeply from the collaborative opportunities that physical proximity provides."

"But New York remains far behind the leading life sciences centers in attracting and nurturing the institutions and companies that make up the industry," Purvis said in a statement, noting that New York itself already has a similar hub in the Kips Bay neighborhood, anchored by NYU Langone.

"Center East will contribute significantly to the City’s efforts to close that gap by providing the Blood Center with 21st century facilities and by adding a critical mass of product developers to the complex of institutions that includes the Blood Center and its neighboring research partners at New York Presbyterian, Memorial Sloan Kettering and Rockefeller Institute."

Alternate proposal is pushed

Also in attendance Tuesday was City Councilmember Ben Kallos, who said his chief concern remained the three to four hours of new afternoon shadows that the Blood Center tower would cast over St. Catherine's Park, which sits across the street.

Kallos, whose position could be influential once the City Council considers the proposal, has not taken a formal stance on the project but has strongly hinted that he opposes it.

Kallos said the Blood Center should move forward instead with an alternate proposal it has included in planning documents: a modest, five-story building that would achieve its stated goals of creating new lab space and replacing its current, 91-year-old home.

That proposal could be built as-of-right, or without any changes to the zoning code.

"It seems that the as-of-right development could accommodate the Blood Center’s needs," Kallos said.

Kallos urged neighbors to fill out a survey on his website, asking whether they support or oppose the project. Of the roughly 400 responses it has received so far, most have expressed opposition, he said.

Previous coverage:

• Upper East Side Blood Center Tower Advances Despite Opposition
• Blood Center Building Hits Roadblocks On Upper East Side
• UES Community Board Harshly Critical Of Blood Center Expansion
• NY Blood Center Plots Major Upper East Side Expansion