Landmarks Commission Set to Approve St. Vincent's?

Last week St. Vincent's Hospital and developer Rudin Management headed back to the Landmarks Preservation Commission with a slightly smaller version of their controversial hospital redevelopment plan.

Though changes included reducing the size of the new residential tower to 218' (down from the original proposal of 266'), it appeared the LPC was still not quite convinced that the new buildings were worthy of the Greenwich Village Historic District.

However, the Post's Tom Topousis reports that LPC Chairman Robert Tierney said yesterday the tower "is fundamentally appropriate," and the commission will likely approve the residential portion of the St. Vincent's plan next month. If that happens, it would then head to the City Planning Commission and the City Council, and barring any hiccups there, the O'Toole Building at Seventh Avenue and 13th Street would come down for the new elliptical hospital tower. After that's done, sometime around 2014, the current St. Vincent's medical building across the street would be razed for the apartment building, and Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Christopher Hitchens, et al. would have to find something new to complain about.
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