St. Vincent's Failure Might Scuttle Development Scheme
From Crain’s New York
Article can be found at http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20100407/REAL_ESTATE/100409917
St. Vinnie’s closure clouds plans for new towers
Published: April 7, 2010 – 1:13 pm
Preservationists who lost their battle to save the O’Toole Building in Greenwich Village from the wrecking ball as part of a major expansion by owner St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers may get their way after all.
New York City’s Landmarks Commission’s decision to allow the demolition of what many consider a fine example of modern architecture was based on a hardship application by St. Vincent’s. Approval was granted on its claim that the hospital couldn’t carry out its mission unless a new enlarged facility replaced the old one housed in the O’Toole Building, which is located on the west side of Seventh Avenue, between West 12th and West 13th streets.
But Tuesday night, St. Vincent’s announced it was closing the hospital because of its mountain of debt and operating loss. That means that even if a developer wanted to buy the building from the medical center, which desperately needs to generate cash to reduce its debts, any new plans and designs for the site would need to be approved by Landmarks, a commission spokesman said.
To help pay for the new hospital, St. Vincent’s had also planned to sell eight buildings across the avenue to the Rudin family, major NYC developers, for $310 million. The Rudins planned to level four of the buildings to make way for one tall residential tower and some smaller town houses.
Many had fought both the new hospital and the residential development saying their size, bulk and design were out of character for the historic district. It is unclear what will happen to that residential development on the east side of Seventh Avenue, in light of the St. Vincent’s announcement.
Neither the Rudin family or St. Vincent’s returned a call for comment.
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