Deal Reached To Build Controversial New York Blood Center Tower
A new agreement that would pave the way for the rezoning and expansion of the New York Blood Center was tentatively reached by members of the New York City Council’s zoning and land use committees Wednesday.
The Blood Center agreed to shrink the height of the tower from 334 to 218 feet as part of the deal, as well as include additional funding for nearby schools and parks. The deal — announced by Council Speaker Corey Johnson and a group of council members — goes against the wishes of local Council Member Ben Kallos, who has vociferously opposed the new development, breaking the precedent of the council supporting the wishes of members on land use issues in their districts.
The council members said in a statement heralding the deal that it would “help cement New York City as a hub of biomedical research.” Expanding life sciences in the city has been an economic goal of departing Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose administration has provided $1B in funding to grow the sector.
Kallos joined in with a co-op next to the Blood Center in a last-ditch campaign to sink the deal during the full council vote earlier in the week, before the broader deal was announced Wednesday. He told The City Wednesday evening he believed he could muster enough "no" votes on the full council to sink the arrangement.
”This is the first rezoning where no changes were made at the Community Board or for the Borough President,” Kallos told Bisnow in a statement Wednesday night. “The first change was offered at the first and only Zoning hearing just last month where more than one hundred residents came out in opposition.”
The fight around the expansion plans for the institution, which would include substantial life sciences lab space for startups, focused on zoning and the height of the proposed 16-story tower. While land use issues dominated the debate over the expansion, proponents and opponents of the plan told Bisnow they felt there was some unease around additional lab space among some neighbors, part of a rise in unease among community groups around the fast-paced expansion of lab space in urban areas.
Local neighbors and community groups also worried about shadows cast on nearby Julia Richman Education Complex and St. Catherine’s Park, which will receive $10M in new funding as part of the deal.
"The Blood Center has been dishonest in their advocacy and won’t take no for an answer," Kallos told Bisnow last month. "I don’t know how I’m going to look my daughter in the eye if this gets approved on my watch.”
