St. Vincent's Wins Approval to Build Big Condo in Village

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9-1 yesterday to approve St Vincent's controversial plans to build a 203-foot-tall, 16-story condo (right) on the east side of Seventh Avenue, between West 11th and West 12th Streets, in the Greenwich Village historic district. It's a big win for St. Vincent's over community outcry about the project's scale, and the hospital is counting on the condo deal to help fund the $830 million, 286-foot-tall medical building that will replace the doomed landmark O'Toole building. But in a concession to the commission, St Vincent's and partner Rudin Management agreed to shrink the condo 15 feet, so now the local gadflies have nothing to complain about! Oh, except for Andrew Berman at the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation; he tells City Room, "It’s certainly not over." So maybe we'll get some more celebrity outrage? The plan to raze the sawtooth O'Toole building still faces a legal challenge, and the entire $1.63 billion project also needs approval from he City Council and the City Planning Commission.