#New York Blood Center’s zoning change approved

Opponents of the New York Blood Center’s expansion plans vowed to keep fighting after the City Planning Commission approved a zoning change for the project.

The commission’s 8-2 vote Wednesday would allow the Blood Center to tear down its East 67th Street building and replace it with a 334-foot tower that opponents say rivals the footprint of the Empire State Building and would cast shadows on a school and park. Most of the tower would be rented out as a “life sciences center.”

Rachel Levy, executive director of FRIENDS of the Upper East Side, said there was “no demonstrated reason to disrupt the carefully calibrated land use policy in effect for three decades on a textbook low-rise Upper East Side block.”

Councilman Ben Kallos said, “The developers are overstepping what should be allowed here, and letting this rezoning go through would set a horrendous precedent.”

The proposal now goes to the City Council.