April 14, 2008
THE Landmarks Preserva tion Commission, now weighing a contentious demolition/development proposal in the Green wich Village Historic District, can strike an inspired blow for enlightened preservationism.
It should bless the plan to tear down nine antiquated hospital buildings and allow construction of a tall new hospital tower and luxury apartments in their place. The change would undeniably enhance the value of the district's legitimate architectural and historical treasures.
Yet the proposal's proponents know they're asking a "heavy lift." Yes, the Landmarks Commission recently has shown itself willing to allow razing of unworthy properties that just happened to end up in historic districts. But the Village knives are out.
Village residents are fuming over the proposal to let St. Vincent's Hospital tear down its old facilities astride Seventh Avenue South between West 11th and 13th streets. And they're positively bananas over allowing Rudin Management Co. to build luxury apartments.
The Landmarks Commission is the first, but maybe the most important, public approval the plan needs to go forward; it took up the case at a noisy public hearing on April 1 and won't make a decision for several weeks or months.
EVERYONE from City Coun cil Speaker Christine Quinn to Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter is ganging up on the proposal - and not all of their arguments appear crazy at first glance.
But the bottom line is exquisitely simple: The St.Vincent's/Rudin scheme would replace bad old buildings with much better new ones - a fact plain to anyone who simply compares the new designs to the site's oppressive current reality.
The proposed buildings will strengthen, not diminish, the neighborhood's economic viability. And that, in turn, will protect, not threaten, its innumerable masterpieces. In a rational city, it would be a no-brainer; in New York, it's anything but.
The hospital wants to sell its land on the avenue's east side to Rudin for $310 million. St. Vincent's would then tear down its building on the west side and erect an $835 million, 21-story modern hospital tower designed by I.M. Pei's firm. When that's finished, Rudin would tear down eight buildings on the avenue's east side and put up a residential complex with 400-plus apartments.
The hospital tower looks striking enough on paper to raise the possibility it might one day qualify as a landmark in its own right. The condo designs, respectful of the townhouse-style and townhouse-scale cross-blocks between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue South, promise a big improvement over the grim hospital block now on the site.
