Council Member Ben Kallos, who represents the Upper East Side, was also concerned by the fact that the nonprofit did not initially disclose that the 334-foot tower would include a Biosafety Level 3 Lab for studying agents that can cause serious, or even lethal, infections, The New York Post reported. 

“The Blood Center’s expansion plans have been opposed by every local elected official as well as thousands of residents in the community for more than a decade,” a spokesperson for Kallos told CO. “The environmental impacts of this proposed development cannot be mitigated, from shadows on the park and the Julia Richman Education Complex to the creation of new loopholes and the fact that the proposal would include the displacement of thousands of people from 500 apartments.”