[NYguy]

http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/bl...ellows-on-ues/

Odd bedfellows on UES

October 31, 2011
by Erik Ipsen

Commercial necessity can make for odd bedfellows, especially in the pricey precincts of Manhattan. Take the plan that Related Cos. reportedly discussed with government officials on Friday. The big developer is proposing to put a big cancer-treatment center at the base of its long-planned residential tower on East 92nd Street, according to The Wall Street Journal.

So what’s so odd about that? Well, for openers the consortium that is keen to build the cancer center had been shopping around for cheap real estate on the West Side along the Hudson for many months. So the switch to the tony and terribly pricey Upper East Side is a bit of a shocker. So too is the fact that the group, which includes Memorial Sloan-Kettering and NYU Langone, is investing a whopping $240 million in highly targeted proton-therapy treatment that some experts say may be no better than far cheaper conventional radiation treatments.

Now that the developer is ready to dig at last, the neighbors are up in arms over the prospective loss of their green space to make way for yet more luxury apartments. Local politicians, including Council Speaker Christine Quinn, share that outrage. Ah, but a tower that would house a state-of-the-art cancer-zapping device (as well as 250 snappy luxury units in the 35 stories above)—now that’s potentially a project far harder to fault. The cancer center, keep in mind, promises not just cures, but jobs—lots of them—from union construction crews to all those men and women in white lab coats.