Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises · Wednesday, July 16, 2025

The one where a $2.5B hospital tower drew 7,000 petition signatures against it, and the neighbors fought 25 extra beds t

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Northwell pitched its Lenox Hill rebuild as 'at our very core, a health care project,' touting 48 treatment spaces, 475 single-bed rooms and 4,000 babies a year. The room didn't buy it. Wave after wave of Upper East Siders, Civitas, Friends of the Upper East Side, a recent high-school grad, an 18%-Medicaid statistic, a '96.5% of voters oppose' poll, testified that the avenue is the narrowest around, already has 10+ beds per 1,000 people, and that the real fight is a luxury tower dressed as a hospital. Building-trades electricians and nurses pushed back for the jobs and the babies. Council Memb

From the room

“The current site is located in three zoning districts. On the Park Avenue frontage, it is in R10 district within the park improvement district”
— Melanie Myers

“We have approximately 144,000 visits a year, which includes 4,000 deliveries, 14,000 surgeries, greater than 50,000 emergency department visits”
— Dan Baker

“Itself would be asking for the 20% floor area bonus for the upgraded hospital. It would allow for an additional point five of additional transit bonus”
— Melanie Myers

“these actions were authorizations from the city Planning Commission, but there are authorizations and certifications associated with the envelope”
— Melanie Myers

The decisions

01LU 0339-2025C 250151 ZMMZoning MapLaid over

Lenox Hill Hospital

with 2 related matters · LU 0340-2025 · LU 0341-2025

Held a public hearing on Northwell's plan to modernize and enlarge Lenox Hill Hospital, which has occupied the site since the 1850s and would see some of its 10 buildings demolished for a new tower in Council Member Powers's district. Powers laid out how the proposal had shrunk from a 516-foot building with a 490-foot residential tower in 2019 to 395 feet on Lexington with the construction timeline cut from 11 years to 9, while signaling the final deal still had to better address the community's height, scale, and construction concerns.

Mandatory inclusionary housing

Opposition & support

Concerns: construction timeline · living in a construction zone · height and scale

7,000 signatures

Conditions

hospital revised plans with reduced building height and streamlined/streamless construction to address neighbor concerns

Land-use review

CB Manhattan Community Board 8 Disapprove

CB Community Board 8

CB Community Board 8 Other

Where it standsCB Manhattan Community Board 8 ✓→Committee→Full Council

Legislation →ULURP case →

Also in the record

Records not linked to a specific agenda item

Land-use review

Questions & answers

Keith Powers: Expand ED, upgrade ORs, single bedroom per patient

Kevin C. Riley: How is this revised proposal more responsive to the community's concerns vs the 2019 500-foot proposal with residential building?

Kevin C. Riley: How many beds currently and how many proposed, all single?

Kevin C. Riley: What happens to transporter jobs within the new model?

Kevin C. Riley: Given hospital closures (Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Cabrini in Gramercy Park, St. Vincent in Greenwich Village), why operate at this location and have you explored relocating?

+15 more exchanges

Citations & precedent

NYS Certificate of Need (CON) process · Dan Baker

New York State hospital construction regulation — single-bedded rooms for new builds · Dan Baker

C18X zoning district

Procedure

Clerk announces hearing open; asks attendees to silence devices; signals chair the committee is ready — Sergeant-at-Arms
Witnesses to remain until excused; no video recording or photography from the witness table — Kevin C. Riley
chair asks witness Dan/Deanne Dunham to wrap up testimony — Kevin C. Riley
chair calls next public commenter, Lenore — Kevin C. Riley

+11 more procedural steps

The people

Public testimony: 6 in favor · 8 opposed

Practitioners & applicants

Jimmy Aguiza · Peggy Rosenblatt · Hank Soterlin · Terrell Martin · Robert Foster · Cleveland Cyrus · Anthony Cohn · Marco Tamayo · Anthony Guerrero · Bob Rotolo · +31 more

The intelligence

Every parcel, owner, and applicant in this meeting, cross-referenced against Zonable’s NYC ownership, enforcement & legislative graph — the record behind the record.

Sign in for the full graph

Owner portfolios, open OATH/ECB violations, 311 & DOB permits across every parcel discussed, developer track records, and an “ask this meeting” chat.

Ask about this meeting

Chat with AI about this meeting. Free account required.

Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises · Wednesday, July 16, 2025

The one where a $2.5B hospital tower drew 7,000 petition signatures against it, and the neighbors fought 25 extra beds t

Contents & search

item

laid over

land-use item

Try

From the room

“The current site is located in three zoning districts. On the Park Avenue frontage, it is in R10 district within the park improvement district”
— Melanie Myers

“We have approximately 144,000 visits a year, which includes 4,000 deliveries, 14,000 surgeries, greater than 50,000 emergency department visits”
— Dan Baker

“Itself would be asking for the 20% floor area bonus for the upgraded hospital. It would allow for an additional point five of additional transit bonus”
— Melanie Myers

“these actions were authorizations from the city Planning Commission, but there are authorizations and certifications associated with the envelope”
— Melanie Myers

The decisions

01LU 0339-2025C 250151 ZMMZoning MapLaid over

Lenox Hill Hospital

with 2 related matters · LU 0340-2025 · LU 0341-2025

Mandatory inclusionary housing

Opposition & support

Concerns: construction timeline · living in a construction zone · height and scale

7,000 signatures

Conditions

hospital revised plans with reduced building height and streamlined/streamless construction to address neighbor concerns

Land-use review

CB Manhattan Community Board 8 Disapprove

CB Community Board 8

CB Community Board 8 Other

Where it standsCB Manhattan Community Board 8 ✓→Committee→Full Council

Legislation →ULURP case →

Also in the record

Records not linked to a specific agenda item

Land-use review

Questions & answers

Keith Powers: Expand ED, upgrade ORs, single bedroom per patient

Kevin C. Riley: How is this revised proposal more responsive to the community's concerns vs the 2019 500-foot proposal with residential building?

Kevin C. Riley: How many beds currently and how many proposed, all single?

Kevin C. Riley: What happens to transporter jobs within the new model?

Kevin C. Riley: Given hospital closures (Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Cabrini in Gramercy Park, St. Vincent in Greenwich Village), why operate at this location and have you explored relocating?

+15 more exchanges

Citations & precedent

NYS Certificate of Need (CON) process · Dan Baker

New York State hospital construction regulation — single-bedded rooms for new builds · Dan Baker

C18X zoning district

Procedure

Clerk announces hearing open; asks attendees to silence devices; signals chair the committee is ready — Sergeant-at-Arms
Witnesses to remain until excused; no video recording or photography from the witness table — Kevin C. Riley
chair asks witness Dan/Deanne Dunham to wrap up testimony — Kevin C. Riley
chair calls next public commenter, Lenore — Kevin C. Riley

+11 more procedural steps

The people

Public testimony: 6 in favor · 8 opposed

Practitioners & applicants

Jimmy Aguiza · Peggy Rosenblatt · Hank Soterlin · Terrell Martin · Robert Foster · Cleveland Cyrus · Anthony Cohn · Marco Tamayo · Anthony Guerrero · Bob Rotolo · +31 more

The intelligence

Every parcel, owner, and applicant in this meeting, cross-referenced against Zonable’s NYC ownership, enforcement & legislative graph — the record behind the record.

Sign in for the full graph

Owner portfolios, open OATH/ECB violations, 311 & DOB permits across every parcel discussed, developer track records, and an “ask this meeting” chat.

Ask about this meeting

Chat with AI about this meeting. Free account required.