Renderings via Northwell Health / Lenox Hill Hospital
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This week marked a milestone in a sweeping plan to redevelop Lenox Hill Hospital, as the City Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve Northwell Health’s $2 billion redevelopment proposal despite Upper East Side residents still expressing concerns over the size and hassle of the long-term construction project.
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The proposal, originally unveiled back in 2019, calls for a new 40-story hospital tower on Lexington Avenue, between East 76th and 77th Streets, as well as restructuring and modernizing the rest of the Lenox Hill campus, which contains portions built in the 19th Century and has been labeled by many as no longer adequate.
Approximately 475 private patient rooms, a large emergency department, as well as designated spaces for mother-baby health are included in Northwell’s plan. The new hospital tower is estimated to be as tall as 436 feet, replacing the aging sections of the facility that some health officials claim are no longer capable of meeting current clinical and safety standards.
There has been controversy about the process and the scope of the project for some time. In April, Community Board 8 formally opposed the Lenox Hill proposal due to long estimated construction timelines—up to nine years—and a new building that many felt exceeded the scale of existing structures in the neighborhood.
Over time, Northwell has made adjustments to its proposal after listening to feedback from the community—eliminating a planned 200-unit residential building and reducing the height of the tower from its originally anticipated height of 500 feet. Northwell has also committed to forming a task force with local leaders and elected officials to oversee issues related to noise, air quality, and other construction-related issues. That offer was part of a deal made in May with Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, who ended up supporting the project.
As part of that deal, Northwell has also committed to having a new outpatient behavioral health facility, which is expected to allow them to serve approximately 30,000 patients per year.
Although there is still opposition, officials at Lenox Hill Hospital assert that an expansion is essential for the hospital’s future.
With the official approval from the City Planning Commission, the next step is for the proposal to go to the City Council for a public hearing and vote, which is expected to happen by the fall. The City Council’s vote will be one of the last steps in the land-use approval process, after which the mayor will be able to approve or deny the project.
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