LPC OKs New Hospital Building for St. Vincent's
St. Vincent Medical Center’s plan clears key hurdle
Published: March 10, 2009 – 3:23 pm
St. Vincent Catholic Medical Center scored a huge victory in its contentious battle to build a new hospital in Greenwich Village when the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday approved the design of the new facility.
Still, St. Vincent’s isn’t home free. To finance the 20-story facility, it is selling eight buildings, including the current hospital, to the Rudin family for $310 million. The commission still needs to approve the real estate developer’s plans for a residential complex on the site. The review is expected to begin this spring.
Building the new hospital and residential complex will require zoning changes, so the plans must be approved by the City Council and city planning. In addition, the new hospital must be approved by state health regulators.
“Obviously we are very pleased and very happy but there is much more to do,” said Henry Amoroso, president and chief executive of St. Vincent’s.
Mr. Amoroso said he doesn’t think the new hospital will be complete until the end of 2015 at the earliest.
But Tuesday’s 8-to-3 vote is a major advance for St. Vincent’s in the ongoing saga. Many residents have objected to the height and bulk of both the hospital and its residential counterpart. Preservationists are also angry that the commission allowed St. Vincent’s to raze the 35-year-old O’Toole Building in order to construct the new facility on its site, on Seventh Ave. between West 12th and West 13th streets.
In May 2008, the commission refused to allow St. Vincent’s to tear down O’Toole, citing it as an important example of modern architecture. However, in October it reversed course after St. Vincent filed a hardship application, saying it couldn’t carry it out it mission without building the new hospital.
St. Vincent’s did make concessions along the way. In 2007, it proposed building a 329-foot tall hospital but after two adjustments, the plan calls for a 286-foot facility.
The Rudin development has also been altered. The developer had originally planned to tear down all of buildings it will purchase but has agreed to keep and reuse four of them after the commission raised objections. The Rudins’ plan includes constructing a high-rise residential tower and five townhouses.
William Rudin, president of Rudin Management, said he was looking forward to the commission’s review of his company’s proposal, which he though could happen as early as next month.
“We want to keep the process moving forward,” he said.
Others would prefer if the project stopped. On Monday, Protect the Village Historic District, a community group, sued the commission and St. Vincent’s, alleging that the hospital was illegally granted a hardship to demolish the O’Toole Building.