BP Hopes Lenox Hill, Neighbors Reach Consensus On Expansion

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will hold at least four more "task force" meetings in coming months including Northwell Health and Upper East Siders opposed to current plans to expand Lenox Hill Hospital in an effort to find consensus among the groups, a spokeswoman for the borough president confirmed.

Brewer held the first task force meeting this month, which was attended by local City Councilmember Keith Powers, hospital executives, Community Board 8 members, community groups and an organization founded this year to oppose Lenox Hill's expansion called the "Committee to Protect Our Lenox Hill Neighborhood." During the meeting, Northwell presented the same expansion plan overwhelmingly opposed by the local community board.

Northwell Health's plan would require zoning variances to build a 516-foot hospital tower on Lexington Avenue and a 490-foot residential tower on Park Avenue between East 77th and 76th streets. Other buildings in the block-long complex would be about 200-feet-tall, according to Northwell's presentation. The hospital would be the tallest in New York City and one of the tallest in the world.

The new hospital campus would not increase the number of beds at Lenox Hill, but instead create individual rooms for hospital patients. Hospital officials said that the new complex would account for increased congestion by moving ambulances off 77th Street and into the facility as well creating less obstructive loading docks on East 76th Street.

Members of the Committee to Protect Our Lenox Hill Neighborhood left this month's task force meeting with the sense that Northwell will modify its plans before entering public review, a spokesman for the group said.

"As we have made clear to all parties, this task force process will only be a success if it results in Northwell withdrawing its current plan and developing an alternative plan to modernize and upgrade Lenox Hill Hospital while staying within current zoning rules. We look forward to attending future meetings and working collaboratively with our elected officials to ensure that Northwell is held to this crucial and sensible standard," the committee said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Brewer said that the borough president did not come away from the meeting with the same expectation.

"That being said, we hope that this process could reach a consensus between all stakeholders involved as it has happened in the past," Borough President Press Secretary Courtney McGee told Patch.

Dates for future task force meetings could not be confirmed.

In October, Community Board 8 voted to pass a resolution opposing the plan by a vote of 36 to three, with one member not voting due to a potential conflict of interest. Board members were skeptical of Northwell Health's plan due to the size, 10-year construction timeline and proposed financing of the project through the development of private residences.

Northwell Health executives have stressed during the process that the hospital expansion plan is still in its early stages. The healthcare company has not filed any proposals for public review. Hospital officials have also disputed claims that Northwell hasn't consulted neighbors about the project, saying that he's organized dozens of meetings with community groups since revealing its plans in March.

Brewer and Powers have previously echoed concerns held by neighbors about the expansion's scale and sent a letter to Northwell Health in October asking the hospital to explore the possibility of an expansion that would conform to as-of-right zoning at the hospital's site.