Blood Center Returns To UES Board As Frustrations Mount

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Representatives from the New York Blood Center returned to an Upper East Side community board for the first time in months on Wednesday, where they were met with mounting opposition to the glass tower and zoning changes that their nonprofit is pushing.

Neighbors, board members and elected officials tore into the project over the course of the four-and-a-half-hour Community Board 8 meeting, which served as a prelude to the formal vote that the board will likely take on May 25.

Since it first unveiled the headquarters and research hub in October, the Blood Center has made no changes to the proposal despite neighborhood pushback — a fact raised repeatedly by detractors on Wednesday.

"I’m really disappointed that we’re this far along in the process — it’s been certified — and we’re still looking at the exact same project that reflects no input from the community," said City Councilmember Ben Kallos, whose likely opposition to the development could be influential when the City Council votes on it later this year.

The Blood Center is seeking to knock down its aging, three-story brick headquarters on East 67th Street and replace it with the 334-foot-tall tower, which would require rezoning the block to allow for taller, denser construction.

The organization says the new headquarters would be an economic boon and help further life-saving disease research. But fierce opposition has centered on the precedent that would be set by "upzoning" a mid-block site — typically reserved for smaller buildings — as well as the shadows the tower would cast on nearby St. Catherine's Park and the Julia Richman Education Complex.

The Blood Center will only occupy about 35 percent of the 596,000-square-foot building while leasing the rest out to tenants. The Blood Center says this shared space will fuel scientific collaboration, but opponents allege the project is motivated by financial considerations by developer Longfellow Real Estate Partners, rather than public health.

A Zoom poll taken of the roughly 300 people tuned into Wednesday's meeting showed 94 percent opposing the project and just 5 percent in support. Another survey by Kallos's office was even more lopsided: 97 percent of the 857 people who had filled it out as of Thursday were against the development, a spokesperson said.

New complaints arise

New grievances also surfaced on Wednesday. Community board chair Russell Squire said the Blood Center had failed to comply with requests to post fliers around the neighborhood last week to notify residents about Wednesday's meeting. They finally appeared this week after the board pressed the Blood Center, but Squire was "disappointed" by the delay, he said.

Neighbor Betty Cooper Wallerstein said she was saddened by how badly relations had deteriorated between the Blood Center and the board, which formerly hosted its in-person meetings in the Blood Center's auditorium.

"Look what has happened now," she said.

Wednesday's meeting also heralded the arrival of the "Coalition to Stop the Blood Center," a new group composed of neighborhood associations, buildings, preservation groups and others who plan to put up a "unified front" against the project, according to member Lydia Canizares.

Read more: Blood Center's Upper East Side Tower Takes Heat From New Angles

One resident who spoke out against the proposal sought to distinguish the Blood Center fight from the so-called NIMBY ("not in my backyard") attitudes that often greet other developments.

"It isn’t Nimbyism of the normal kind," said the resident, Barry Adler. "It isn’t opposition to affordable housing or a methadone clinic. This is Nimbyism of the right kind. It’s opposition to a project that doesn’t belong in anyone’s backyard."

The Blood Center team, led by land use attorney Paul Selver, largely gave the same presentation they had shown at previous public meetings.

They did seek to rebut a few points of opposition, including the development's inclusion of Biosafety Level 3 labs, which neighbors worried could expose them to hazardous chemicals, but which the Blood Center notes already exist in its current building.

Selver also downplayed the tower's shadows over St. Catherine's Park, saying the park would still spend "most of the day" in daylight. (Opponents have countered that the roughly four hours of new autumn shadows would be cast in the afternoon, when the park is most heavily used.)

Selver mostly declined to respond to the board's questions on Wednesday, saying the Blood Center would look into the concerns raised after the meeting.

"It's late enough, all of us could do well to go home," he said as the meeting drew to a close around 11 p.m. "Or at least get off our Zooms."

Previous coverage:

• UES Board Wants Your Comments On Blood Center Expansion
• Blood Center's Upper East Side Tower Takes Heat From New Angles
• Upper East Side Blood Center Tower Advances Despite Opposition
• NY Blood Center Plots Major Upper East Side Expansion