Lenox Hill Hospital may scrap plans for 41-story residential tower

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Lenox Hill Hospital expansion may not include residential tower

Northwell Health may scrap its controversial plan to add a residential tower to its Upper East Side Lenox Hill Hospital campus, the New York Post reports.

The plan—which initially included a 490-foot residential building and a 516-foot hospital tower—has faced fierce opposition from neighbors: Back in October, the local community board voted against the hospital’s preliminary plans.

Now, the developers presented a modified plan during a meeting with members of the community, alongside City Council member Keith Powers and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. The hospital tower remains in the new proposal, according to the Post, but doesn’t include the 41-story residential tower initially proposed to help finance the complex’s overhaul.

And in other news...

• Mayor Bill de Blasio weighed in on a contested proposal that would bring two 39-story towers to 960 Franklin Avenue, and according to experts, cast a shadow on sections of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
• The City Council is launching a design competition to reduce crowding on the Brooklyn Bridge’s promenade, which is shared by cyclists and pedestrians.
• Here’s what Amazon’s HQ2 ordeal did to home prices in Long Island City.
• The worst privately-owned elevator in the subway is in Barclays Center.
• The Trump administration said that the Portal North Bridge project was eligible to receive federal funding, but not the Hudson River rail tunnel.
• Mayor Bill de Blasio nominated Victor Calise, the current commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, for a spot on the MTA board.
• And, finally, half a century-old subway cars, the R-42s, are retiring: