Who Supports The Blood Center's Upper East Side Expansion?

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — For the past seven months, opponents of the New York Blood Center's ambitious expansion project have made themselves known, castigating the nonprofit at public meetings and organizing efforts to kill the development.

That hostility was on full display Sunday, when hundreds of residents and most of the Upper East Side's elected officials held a rally outside the Blood Center's East 67th Street building, protesting its proposed rezoning and the 334-foot research tower known as "Center East."

Those shows of opposition, however, could mask the support that does exist for the project, which backers have billed as a future life-sciences hub that could contribute to disease-curing research.

Most prominent among those supporters is Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration. Deputy Mayor Vicki Been voiced support for the project when it was announced in October, saying it would contribute to the mayor's goal of making New York "the public-health capital of the U.S."

City Hall has not commented directly since then, as the development moves through the "ULURP" public review process. But a mayoral spokesperson suggested to Patch that the administration remains supportive, despite the local backlash.

"As you might recall from the State of the City address, the life sciences are going to be a big part of the city’s economic recovery," spokesperson Mitch Schwartz said in an email Thursday. "So investments in the sector are encouraging to see."

Nearby institutions stay silent

Sunday's rally revealed some of the tensions that surround the development. While those in attendance were unified in their opposition, others on the internet ridiculed the spectacle as protesters upset about the shadow-casting tower took shelter in the shade from the 90-degree heat.

Background: Blood Center Returns To UES Board As Frustrations Mount

"Why live in the Upper East Side if you're terrified of shadows and a medical research facility?" wrote one pro-development user.

Meanwhile, a public scoping document released last month as part of the ULURP process includes a longer list of supporters.

Many of the people who submitted public comments supporting the development project are leaders of educational or science-based nonprofits that have worked with the Blood Center in the past.

"Center East will double the Blood Center’s space for research and broaden its capacity for outreach to the UES and East Harlem academic communities," wrote Adriane Castillo, director of the corporate work study program at East Harlem's Cristo Rey New York High School.

Similar backers include an associate director for workforce programs at the City University of New York and the founder of the science education program BioBus.

Other notable supporters include business groups like the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and the growth-focused Association for a Better New York, as well as construction workers' unions like the Building and Construction Trades Council, which trumpeted the estimated 1,500 temporary jobs that the project would generate over four years.

Notably absent from the list of supporters are nearby research institutions like Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medical Center and Rockefeller University, despite the Blood Center's claims that Center East would facilitate more collaboration between the organizations.

The Blood Center also says that more than 300 people have registered support for the project through a webpage devoted to Center East. (By contrast, City Councilmember Ben Kallos's office said more than 800 people, or 97 percent of respondents, had signaled opposition to Center East through a survey on his own website.)

"This plan will not only enable the Blood Center to significantly expand its life-saving work, but allow for the development of a state-of-the-art life science center located in the heart of the Upper East Side's world class cluster of health care and research institutions," Blood Center executive vice president Rob Purvis said in a statement.

Tuesday evening, Community Board 8 is expected to hold a formal vote on whether to recommend approving the project. If past meetings are any indication, the board is likely to side strongly against it.

More Blood Center coverage:

• Blood Center Returns To UES Board As Frustrations Mount
• Blood Center's Upper East Side Tower Takes Heat From New Angles
• Upper East Side Blood Center Tower Advances Despite Opposition
• NY Blood Center Plots Major Upper East Side Expansion