‘So Much Ugliness’ as Upper East Siders Battle 16-Story Tower

The New York Blood Center wants to build a 233-foot-tall tower on a residential block. The campaign to defeat the proposal reflects a deepening movement across the city.

In New York City, when someone wants to build something, there’s almost always a fight — over luxury high rises in Queens, a homeless shelter in Midtown Manhattan and even a dog run on the Upper West Side. But rarely has there been a battle as vicious as the one unfolding in one of New York’s wealthiest neighborhoods — the Upper East Side.

At issue: the New York Blood Center, one of the country’s largest independent blood suppliers, which is seeking city approval to replace its three-story brick headquarters in the Manhattan neighborhood with a 16-story glass tower in partnership with a Boston developer. The center would occupy parts of the first five floors, while the developer would lease the upper floors to life science companies.

In short order, community groups mounted opposition. Nearly every local politician, including the City Council member who represents the neighborhood, joined in. It would be too big on a low-rise residential block, they said, and cast shadows on a park across the street.