Memorial Sloan Kettering – CUNY/Hunter College & Mixed-Use Project – 13DME003M

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) and the City University of New York (CUNY) are partnering to acquire a 66,111-square-foot City-owned site on the east end of a block bounded by York Avenue, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Drive, and East 73rd and 74th Streets (Block 1485, Lot 15) on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. MSK proposes to build a new ambulatory care center (MSK ACC), while CUNY proposes to build the Hunter College Science and Health Professions Building (CUNY-Hunter Building). The project may be referred to as the MSK – CUNY-Hunter Project.

The MSK ACC Building would be approximately 23 stories (approximately 450 feet) tall on a footprint of 39,667 square feet. In a gross floor area of 731,136 square feet, it would contain state-of-the-art ambulatory care facilities, including office practice space for head and neck, endocrinology, thoracic, hematologic oncology, dental, speech, and consultative services; infusion rooms; interventional and diagnostic radiology; radiation oncology; cardiology and pulmonary testing; pharmacy and clinical laboratories to support the on-site activities; academic offices; and conference rooms; and up to 250 accessory parking spaces on the lower levels of the site for patients and visitors. The facility would be expected to treat approximately 1,335 patients daily.

The CUNY-Hunter Building would be approximately 16 stories (approximately 350 feet) tall on a footprint of 26,444 square feet. In its gross floor area of 402,990 square feet, it would house teaching and research laboratories, class rooms, a learning center, a single 350-seat lecture hall, faculty offices, and a vivarium to house research animals. Approximately 1,130 undergraduates and 1,219 graduate students would come to classes and laboratories in this building. In addition students from the main Hunter College campus at Lexington Avenue and East 68th Street would attend lectures in the lecture hall.

The proposed project would be facilitated by the following discretionary actions: disposition of City-owned property, including Mayoral and Borough Board approval; rezoning the site from M3-2 to C1-9; zoning text amendment and special permit; approval to develop the site as a Large Scale General Development (LSGD); and approval of a special permit to increase the number of accessory parking spaces up to 250. Additionally, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) proposed actions include authorization of the issuance of bonds and/or authorization of the expenditure of bond proceeds; the CUNY Board action includes final approval and funding of the project; and the City University Construction Fund (CUCF) must approve the acquisition of real property.

On October 2, 2012, ODMED, as lead agency for the CEQR environmental review for the Memorial Sloan Kettering – CUNY/Hunter College Project, issued a Positive Declaration indicating that there was the potential for adverse environmental impacts due to the project and directed that an EIS be prepared. At the same time, a Draft Scope of Work for an EIS was issued for public comment. To receive public comments, a public Scoping Meeting was held at 6:30 P.M. on Thursday, November 1, 2012, at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, New York, NY, and continued on Tuesday, December 4, 2012, at 6:30 P.M. at the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Research Center Auditorium of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 415 East 68 Street, New York, NY. The comment period was extended until 5:00 P.M. on Friday, December 14, 2012. On March 12, 2013, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development (ODMED), as lead agency, issued the Final Scope of Work for the preparation of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).

The Notice of Completion for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was issued on March 14, 2013, which marked the beginning of the public comment period on this document. A public hearing on the DEIS was held in conjunction with the public hearing on the associated Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) applications at 10:00 A.M. on July 10, 2013 at Spector Hall, 22 Reade Street, Manhattan. The comment period remained open until 5:00 P.M. on July 22, 2013.
On August 8, 2013, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, as lead agency, issued the Notice of Completion for the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Memorial Sloan Kettering – CUNY/Hunter College Project, marking the completion of the project’s CEQR environmental review.

Environmental Review Materials

The environmental review documents can be downloaded from CEQR Access.