NYU retracts mistaken Langone press release

Langone+School+of+Medicine+is+opening+a+new+building+in+Lower+East+Side.

via nyu.edu

Langone School of Medicine is opening a new building in Lower East Side.

Christine Wang, Deputy News Editor

NYU Langone Medical Center inadvertently announced plans to open a new facility in the Lower East Side. Because the lease has not been officially signed, the press release announcing the project was later taken down, yet it stated that this facility will offer a variety of services to try to better provide health care for the surrounding community.

The 40,000 square foot site is in the works to open at Essex Crossing in 2018 at the corner of Delancey and Clinton Streets, and it will share the space with several dozen units of senior housing, according to The Lo-Down NY. While not yet set in stone, the new project, which will become the Joan H. and Preston Robert Tisch Center, was made possible due to a multimillion dollar donation from Joan H. Tisch and will be an extension of the already existing Preston Robert Tisch Center for Men’s Health.

“The site is expected to open late 2018, and will provide a comprehensive array of services, including primary care, ambulatory surgery, urgent care, cardiac procedures, orthopaedics and sports medicine, plastic surgery, and more,” the now removed press release read.

CAS sophomore Bismah Akhter, a pre-medical student, eagerly anticipates this new site and believes that it will make influential, positive contributions to the surrounding community.

“Especially in this day and age where there’s an ever increasing doctor and hospital shortage — especially in the city where I’ve seen so many hospitals closed down — it’s good that NYU is trying to come up with a solution to this problem while also giving their students more opportunities to grow and prosper in their respective field,” Akhter said.

Lisa Greiner, Senior Director of Institutional Communications for the NYU School of Medicine, confirmed that the new facility would be built, but could not comment on details of the deal since the lease has not yet been officially signed.

“The press release about the new facility was really about the donor making it possible, giving a gift to create such a facility, but the only issue is that we didn’t realize that the lease hasn’t yet been signed,” Greiner said. “Until the lease is signed we can’t talk more because if it wasn’t to be created at Essex, it’s still gonna happen, but we just don’t know where.”

Even without a confirmed location, Akhter feels that just the news of a new medical facility is a much welcomed announcement.

“NYU is building a medical facility which is a benefit not only to NYU since it’s medical students have another location to garner more experience, but for the people of NYC since they now have another superb medical facility open to them for whatever medical woes they might have,” Akhter said.

A version of this story appeared in the Tuesday, Sept. 8 print edition. Email Christine Wang at [email protected].

Correction: A previous version of this article mistakenly referred to the the leased building as a  “megaproject.”