Lenox Hill Hospital Overhaul Gets City Council Sign-Off

Northwell Health’s proposed $2 billion overhaul of Lenox Hill Hospital is on the brink of being realized, after the New York City Council unanimously voted in favor of it on August 14.

The proposal, which would essentially reorient the hospital’s interconnected 10-building campus around one new tall medical tower, now goes to the mayor’s desk for final approval.

Northwell says that the project–which would prominently create more private single-occupancy rooms, modestly increasing the hospital’s overall bed count by 25–is necessary for modernizing the hospital and providing patients with adequate service.

The contentious plan, which would take an estimated nine years to finish construction, first passed the City Council’s Land Use subcommittee on August 6 after Northwell agreed to make some tweaks to it; local (and outgoing) District 4 City Council Member Keith Powers pointed out that the proposed tower would now stand at 370 ft. tall, a further downscaling from a previous minimum height of 395 ft.

In fact, the 395 ft.-tall proposal had represented an attempt by Northwell to compromise on a 436 ft.-tall option, which itself was a sharp reduction of an original proposal that stood at over 500 ft. tall. There were also plans, now scrapped by Northwell, to construct a similarly tall residential tower next to the medical one.

“The final plan is the result of years of community advocacy and work by Council Member Powers to reduce the original proposed size of the building, as well as an onerous construction timeline that would have resulted in over a decade of disruptive construction. The original plan included a 516’ building, with a 490’ residential tower,” a representative for Powers explained in an August 6 press release.

The release from the term-limited Council Member’s office further elaborated on what improvements would end up persuading him towards a final “yes” vote: “a dedicated Mother-Baby Hospital, a new drive-through ambulance bay within the footprint of the hospital, and more than $27 million in community investments in public transit, streetscape improvements, funding for sanitation, and support for the nearby Wagner Middle School.”

“After years of planning and collaboration, today’s City Council vote to approve the revitalization of Lenox Hill Hospital represents a major milestone for New York City. We thank Council Member Powers, his fellow members and their staff for their leadership and engaging thoughtfully in the process,” a spokesperson for Northwell told Our Town.

“We also appreciate the input from the community. We look forward to building a modern hospital that will deliver exceptional care for generations of New Yorkers, while continuing to be a trusted partner to our neighbors,” they added.

It’s unsurprising that so many alterations have been made to the height of the proposed tower, given that it has been the centerpiece of significant opposition to the proposed overhaul from local advocacy groups, in addition to concern around matters such as construction time.

Nuha Ansari, the executive director of Friends of the Upper East Side–a preservationist organization that helped spearhead criticism of the overhaul–told Our Town that she was “disappointed, obviously, by the City Council vote.”

“We were hoping that the Council Members, first of all Council Member Keith Powers, would have listened to the extensive testimony that was given by community members. We don’t feel like that they paid enough attention to the good arguments being made by advocates,” she said.

Ansari went on to cite the proposed tower’s height, as well as local zoning variances for Lexington Ave. that will be needed to facilitate its construction, which she said advocates have many concerns about. She also said that her organization be in contact with Mayor Adams’s office, adding that she expected local residents to have at least some meaningful say on the construction process, if the overhaul is indeed inevitable.

The overhaul took a slightly circuitous route on its path to August 14’s City Council “yes” vote. Community Board 8, echoing the criticisms of advocacy groups, pointedly issued an advisory “no” vote (their votes are non-binding) against the proposal. They’ve maintained that stance since.

Borough President Mark Levine, meanwhile, announced his “conditional” approval of the overhaul–secured by Northwell’s commitments to build a mental health clinic locally, as well as establish a construction meeting group that would gather together local representatives and hospital officials. The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the proposal in early July.