Community Board Opposes 'Unbelievable' Lenox Hill Hospital Plan

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Upper East Side's community board voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to oppose Northwell Health's proposed expansion plan for Lenox Hill Hospital, with some board members calling the proposal "unbelievable" and saying they were surprised the plan ever made it to the board for a vote.

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, construction timeline and proposed financing of the project. The board's zoning committee had previously voted to unanimously oppose the plan following a September presentation by Northwell executives.

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.

Dozens of community members spoke out against the plan during Wednesday night's meeting, several of them belonging to a group founded this year to oppose the expansion called the "Committee to Protect Our Lenox Hill Neighborhood."

One of the committee's founders, Andrew Soussloff, said that any private developer looking to build something at similar scale to Northwell's plan on Park Avenue would be quickly denied by the city. Another founder of the group, Derek Dillon, called the project the "Trump Tower of hospitals," and accused Northwell Health of pursuing the project simply to "line the pockets" of its executives.

"We don't need more hospital beds on the Upper East Side, and we certainly don't need this monstrous development that is so out of scale to our neighborhood," Soussloff said Wednesday. "It is a grandiose scheme by Northwell to profit from selling luxury real estate and built a medical tourism destination that has nothing to do with serving the healthcare needs of our community."

Northwell Health executive Joshua Strugatz was the only speaker to testify in support of the project during Wednesday night's community board meeting. The executive clarified that the project does not add beds to Lenox Hill Hospital and said that Northwell is still in the early phases of its development. Strugatz 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.

"The hospital is comprised of ten separate aging buildings that are not configured and equipped to effectively deliver the next generation of care. To maintain our future viability we need to make the necessary investments to meet the needs," Strugatz said Wednesday. "Our ultimate goal is to preserve the highest possible standard of care for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers."

Local City Councilmember Keith Powers spoke at Wednesday night's meeting and revealed that he and Borough President Gale Brewer sent a letter to Northwell Health asking the hospital to explore the possibility of an expansion that would conform to as-of-right zoning at the hospital's site. Powers said that he understands why community members are concerned with the current proposal, but did not specifically commit to opposing the project.

Community Board 8's vote Wednesday night will not have an effect on whether Northwell is able to continue its pursuit of the zoning variances needed for its current proposal. The plan has not been certified for public review.