wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Luxury condominiums, townhouses and retail stores are one step closer to being built on the site of the former St. Vincent’s Hospital in the West Village.

The city Planning Commission on Monday unanimously approved the Rudin Management’s application for a complex that includes seven mostly-residential buildings, an elementary school and a small park.

The vote occurred quickly – but came after a heated hearing in November at which several local advocates argued against Rudin.

William Rudin said his company made many concessions to win approval. "It reaffirms the plan we put forward several months ago that addressed, we think, a lot of the issues that were raised by the community."

The City Council has 60 days to consider the proposal. Its approval would be the final step in a process that started four years ago, back when St. Vincent’s had emerged from its first bankruptcy and before it closed its doors forever.

Nassau County-based Northshore-LIJ, one of the state’s largest and most financially successful hospital networks, has already taken over part of St. Vincent’s — the distinctive white O’Toole Building on 12th Street and 7th Avenue — and is building a free-standing emergency room there. Northshore last year won approval for its development — and was not part of Monday’s planning board vote.

(Photo rendering courtesy of Rudin Management)

Some opponents to the Rudin project wanted the Planning Commission to reject it, because they say the buildings should be preserved for a new full-service hospital. Others said the proposed residential and retail spaces would be out of scale with the West Village – and were exploiting earlier zoning loopholes granted to St. Vincent’s as a public service.

“If we're giving these special considerations to facilities that serve a public purpose, they should not then be given to luxury condo developers,” said Andrew Berman, head of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. “It's wrong. And to just rubber-stamp it is deeply disappointing.”

And others argued the planning board should require Rudin to set aside so-called affordable units for low- or moderate-income residents.

Rudin said doing so would make it difficult for the company to recoup its investment. He told officials that he was willing to “explore” possible tax incentives for affordable housing, but he would not commit to them — and in the end, the Commission did not make affordable housing a pre-condition for approval.

In the end, the Planning Commission rejected the arguments against Rudin and approved the proposal without any strings attached.

Previously, the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Borough President’s office had also approved the Rudin development — over the concerns of the local Community Board, which voted against it.

Along the way, Rudin adapted its original plan significantly, reducing the height from 21 to 16 stories and preserving and incorporating into the complex five historic buildings that were initially going to be razed.