In preparation for the development of CornellNYC Tech on Roosevelt Island, about 700 patients are being moved from the island’s Coler-Goldwater Hospital to three locations in East Harlem. But some East Harlem community leaders say they are troubled that locals weren’t consulted about the city’s plans for their neighborhood, the Daily News reported. They are also alleging that the planned development of the three East Harlem sites are part of a hidden city subsidy to Cornell, which is working with Israel’s Technion to build the Roosevelt Island campus.
The plans for East Harlem include a $153 million renovation of the nine-story former North General Hospital at 122nd Street and Madison Avenue, for acute long-term care use; a new, six-story, $131 million nursing facility on a site that once housed North General’s parking lot, and a new $51 million nine-story building atop a parking lot at 99th Street and Second Avenue, which will be for more independent patients. The mayor has said that Coler-Goldwater patients will be moved by October of next year.
City officials said the East Harlem construction does not relate to the Cornell campus. A spokesperson told the Daily News that this plan was announced in June of 2010 — more than a year before the competition for the tech campus began. [NYDN]