This proposal came as a shock to our community which promptly organized to oppose it. CPOLHN was founded in 2019 by neighbors outraged at the scale of these plans and Northwell’s disregard for the historic character of our neighborhood. We recruited coops and condos, private buildings, local stores and dedicated individuals to lend their support and donations to the fight. We hired health care advisors, zoning experts, urban planners, attorneys and PR professionals to build our opposition. We reached out to external civic groups including landmarks preservation organizations, health equity proponents and many others. We engaged with local officials at Community Board 8, our Council Member Keith Powers, the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and many others at the City and State level to build a wall of opposition. We participated in the Lenox Hill Task Force convened by Ms. Brewer and Mr. Powers to debate the plan, which after several meetings adjourned due to the emergence of COVID. As a result of our efforts and press coverage, Northwell withdrew their plans to build a residential tower and submitted revised plans for the hospital, which still involved a height and zoning density comparable to the largest midtown Manhattan office buildings and unheard of in any residential neighborhood of the City.

When COVID-19 hit, Northwell turned its attention to fighting COVID rather than on expanding the hospital, and for the past three years, redevelopment plans lay dormant. CPOLHN supported and applauded the hospital’s commitment to the health of our community. We, too, assumed a low profile.

Before the pandemic with CPOLHN’s opposition and with negative press coverage, Northwell had already withdrawn its plans to build an enormous condominium tower on Park Avenue. OUR voices were heard then and will be heard again with YOUR SUPPORT.

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

The proposed reconstruction of Lenox Hill Hospital would try to squeeze an enormous structure into a small New York City block, with narrow side streets and crowded public transit, where it cannot possibly fit and is illegal under current zoning laws. The requested zoning change is not a minor 2-3% variance request at all, but a request to rezone on a massive scale–by some 45%–a density found nowhere outside of midtown Manhattan and the Financial District.

This completed construction would totally destroy the iconic nature of our landmarked residential community.

We want a better Lenox Hill Hospital but not a bigger Lenox Hill. There is a clear need to upgrade the aging facilities within the present zoning limits, but there is no need to spend $Billions for more costly healthcare on the Upper East Side which boasts possibly the most and best healthcare facilities in the world. The need for more and better healthcare is strikingly evident in the other boroughs of New York City where we think Northwell has multiple choices of suitable sites to build their destination hospital.

OUR voices were heard in 2020 when Northwell withdrew its plans for the enormous condominium tower. OUR voices will be heard again with YOUR SUPPORT.