CB8 Votes Against Lenox Hill Hospital’s Proposed $2 Billion Expansion Plans

Northwell Health’s $2 billion plan to dramatically reimagine Lenox Hill Hospital has been hit with what could prove to be a damaging speed-bump, after Community Board 8 voiced its disapproval of needed zoning changes in an April 10 vote.

Northwell hopes to consolidate the hospital’s 10-building campus into a 436-foot tower on Lexington Avenue, which they say is necessary to modernize its services. A significant number of local residents, including those organizing under the umbrella of “Save Lenox Hill,” believe that the near-decade it would take to build the hospital would cause untenable disruption.

As explained by CB8 Chair Valerie Mason, the desired zoning changes will now go to Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine for further consideration. Much like CB8, Levine can only recommend disapproval or approval, which will ultimately be decided by the City Planning Commission and the NY City Council.

At the April 10 meeting, only board members were allowed to testify, although members of the public were permitted to attend. “Since March 12, we have been accepting written testimony from the public,” Mason clarified. “I’ll be completely frank, we usually don’t get this big a turnout for our ULURP applications. Everybody will be respectful or civil towards each other, or I will remove you from the room.” Cheers or boos, she explained, were prohibited; instead, people could either offer a thumbs down or quietly lift their arms (in a sort of “raise the roof” motion) in approval.

Dr. Daniel Baker, Lenox Hill Hospital’s executive director, told the assembled crowd why Northwell believes such an expansion is necessary: “It’s about putting patients at the center of our care, patients deserving better from a modernization, and it’s deeply about the permanence of our institutions.”

He also noted that Northwell was willing to be a bit more flexible on the final design, calling the current renderings “illustrative.” He also offered what appeared to be a rebuttal of some of the arguments made by community activists, saying that “we’re really focused on the impact that it will have—both on the environment, those that work in the building, and the patients that will be in the building as well.”

Some of the objections that followed took interesting turns, with Jane Parshall kicking things off by criticizing what she perceived to be the expansion’s architectural flaws. Such a straightforward medical tower would be “banal,” she said, and implored Northwell to aspire to something that could be “landmarked” for “future generations.” Parshall then outright asked Baker if Northwell “had ever considered building your medical campus on another site” in Manhattan.

Baker replied that the zoning changes were “based around our clinical needs,” such as whether they’d properly accommodate the hospital’s cardiothoracic or emergency departments. As for considering whether to build elsewhere, he said, they didn’t own the real estate to do so.

Elizabeth Ashby, however, may have made the most intense indictment of the desired expansion–which is notable given that she co-chairs CB8’s zoning subcommittee.

”I first want to say that I don’t think that there’s a member of this community board that doesn’t want to see Lenox Hill not have a modernized facility,” she said. “What we’re all asking about, frankly, is scale. Why is this scale necessary?” Specifically, she wondered why Northwell couldn’t build something along the lines of an 800,000-square-foot facility, rather than one that exceeds 1 million square feet.

Visibly frustrated, she added that “we want a modern hospital that is right-sized for this community. The fact that you’re saying you can’t get it done. . . . I find that extraordinary.” A chorus of raised “approval” hands shot up around her, signaling a chorus of support reflected in the final “no” vote.

Again, Baker cited the hospital’s clinical needs. Borough President Levine will have 30 days to decide which of these arguments he finds more persuasive.