Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital proposes new mental health clinic

Northwell Health’s flagship hospital, Lenox Hill Hospital, plans to build a $6.9 million outpatient mental health clinic on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The facility will offer psychiatric care, telehealth services and group therapy. The new clinic will feature more than 20 exam rooms along with dedicated telehealth and group therapy spaces.

The clinic is part of Northwell’s larger $2 billion redevelopment of Lenox Hill Hospital. But the project to expand the hospital, first proposed in 2019, has faced community opposition due to the size and timeline of a planned tower. A separate mental health clinic was part of the modified plan, which the New York City Council approved in August 2025.

Northwell agreed to reduce the tower height to 370 feet from the initially proposed 516 feet and shorten the construction timeline. Additionally, Northwell created a task force with community members to monitor the construction progress. The agreement also commits Lenox Hill Hospital and Northwell to making investments in access to the 77th Street subway station and improving the street design surrounding the hospital.

Once the redevelopment is complete, Lenox Hill Hospital will have an expanded emergency department with space for infectious disease and immune-compromised patients and state-of-the-art operating rooms. The hospital handles more than 50,000 emergency visits and 20,000 surgeries each year. It will also have a dedicated maternity hospital to serve the mothers and more than 4,000 babies delivered annually.

Lenox Hill Hospital will remain open during the redevelopment. The construction is expected to take between 6 years and 6.5 years for the exterior portion and between 3 and 3.5 years for the interior portion of the project.

But there is an ongoing legal battle over the redevelopment of the hospital. A group of residents has sued Lenox Hill Hospital, Northwell Health and New York City, saying the city’s zoning approval violates state law. The residents near the site of the expansion say they will be damaged from the project, and they want the approval annulled, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in December 2025. Additionally, they argue that the construction will result in noise pollution, air-quality issues, traffic congestion and the production of smog. The next court date is scheduled for late April.

For more than 160 years, Lenox Hill Hospital has been a presence on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. It serves 144,000 patients annually and employs more than 5,000 people. The hospital has been featured in two Netflix series, one following four doctors and another focusing on the emergency department.

In January 2026, Lenox Hill Hospital was named to Healthgrades’ 50 best hospitals in the United States for 2026 for the fifth time. The hospital also received multiple specialty designations from Healthgrades for excellence in care, placing it among the top 10% of hospitals in the nation for cardiology, cardiac surgery, gastroenterology, and outpatient orthopedic services.