LPC Hearing on Revised Plans
This morning the Landmarks Preservation Commission issued a stunning rebuke of this proposal to demolish nine buildings in the Greenwich Village Historic District and replace them with 1.3 million sq. ft. of luxury condos and a new hospital, including two of the largest buildings ever proposed for a historic district. The Commission urged preservation of the Smith, Raskob, Nurse’s Residence, Spellman, and O’Toole buildings, and urged a complete re-working of plans for development on the remaining sites to match the scale and character of the surrounding neighborhood. The Commission did open the door to the possibility of the hospital building a tower on top of the O’Toole building, but even there urged a more sensitive scale and design than currently proposed.
This left St. Vincent’s and their development partners the Rudins three options: file a hardship case to seek approval for demolition and new construction not allowed by the Landmarks Preservation Commission; file new plans (presumably radically different than the current ones) and go through the public hearing process again; or drop the plan entirely. St. Vincent’s has since stated they will file a hardship case to seek permission to demolish the O’Toole building and construct the new hospital on the site; this will require a new set of public hearings and St. Vincent’s proving through an open and public process that retaining the O’Toole building is not feasible for them to do and fulfill their charitable mission.
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation thanks the literally thousands of people and dozens of preservation and neighborhood groups from across the city whom we reached out to and who joined us in urging that this unprecedented plan be changed. It is deeply gratifying to know that our voices have been heard and made a difference — THANK YOU! We will keep you informed as the process continues.
Read more coverage of the Landmarks Preservation Commission decision on St. Vincent’s/Rudin redevelopment plans from:
New York Times / New York Sun / NY1 / New York Observer / Business Week / Forbes / The Real Deal / Gothamist / City Realty / Syracuse.com / Houston Chronicle
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