[NYguy]

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/health-pul...e-endorses-lenox-hill-hospital-expansion

Northwell gets support for $2B Lenox Hill project with new mental health clinic





Amanda D'Ambrosio
May 15, 2025

Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital has committed to building a new mental health facility on the Upper East Side so it can win key political endorsement for its controversial $2 billion expansion.

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine reached a deal with Northwell Health to recommend the city approve its planned medical tower on Lexington Avenue between 76th and 77th streets, signaling his support for a project that has faced community pushback for years, he shared exclusively with Crain’s.

As a part of that deal, Northwell agreed to build a new outpatient behavioral health facility to serve up to 30,000 patients annually at 300 E. 62nd St., according to Levine — a new addition to a project that’s expected to cost billions.

The new clinic aims to bolster behavioral health resources in the city, which have diminished as private hospitals eroded beds and community-based care for many years because of financial concerns, Levine, who is running a campaign for city comptroller, said in an interview.

“That’s a trend I’d like to reverse,” Levine said. “A new facility serving this need is a really important step forward.”

Residents of the Upper East Side have firmly resisted Northwell’s planned Lenox Hill expansion, posing barriers to the hospital’s modernization goals. Community members oppose the height of the new medical tower, which could reach up to 436 feet tall, and its nine-year construction timeline that they say will disrupt the flow of the neighborhood.

Though mostly symbolic, the borough president’s blessing marks a positive development for the Lenox Hill expansion amid continued community opposition. Last month the local community board voted down the project because of how tall it is, urging Northwell to cut the building’s height in half to get the community’s consent to move forward. The vote, like the borough president’s, was advisory in nature and not binding, but it signified an early setback.

Northwell has pushed to modernize Lenox Hill since 2019, initially proposing a 500-foot-tall hospital with an adjacent residential building. Community concerns at the time led Northwell to toss out its plans for an apartment building, and it has since proposed two different options to mitigate objections about height, either by building a 436-foot tower or constructing a 395-foot, wider building to fit all necessary medical services.