By Albert Amateau
The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve the application of North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System and the Rudin Organization to restore the former St. Vincent’s Hospital’s O’Toole Pavilion.
The application calls for restoring the facade of the quirky building on the west side of Seventh Ave. at W. 12th St. to its original appearance and creating a new entrance on Seventh Ave. to allow it to become a free-standing emergency department and comprehensive care facility.
Landmarks Preservation Chairperson Robert Tierney called the plan a “felicitous conclusion” to the three-year struggle over the fate of O’Toole, built in 1964 as the Curran Center for the National Maritime Union and acquired by St. Vincent’s in 1975 after the creation of the Greenwich Village Historic District.
“The proposal will allow the building to be restored intact and function as a healthcare facility and not detract from the character of the district,” said Tierney. “I enthusiastically support this application.”
L.P.C. Commissioner Margery Perlmutter thanked the applicants for “saving the building.”
Before St. Vincent’s went into bankruptcy more than a year ago, the hospital won reluctant approval from L.P.C. to demolish the O’Toole building and replace it with a 300-foot-tall, state-of-the-art hospital. At almost the same time, Rudin, St. Vincent’s development partner, won L.P.C. approval for residential development and conversion of the hospital property on the east side of Seventh Ave.
But the St. Vincent’s bankruptcy put an end to the plan for a new hospital and Rudin and North Shore-L.I.J. made the current agreement, which was approved earlier this year by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Bill Rudin said Tuesday’s L.P.C. vote was recognition that “the plan is not only the best to bring healthcare back to the West Side but the right one for the neighborhood.”
Rudin added, “Along with our L.P.C.-approved residential development, new open space and a public school [on W. 17th St.], this plan preserves the heart and character of the West Village Community.”
Michael Dowling, president of North Shore-L.I.J., said the approval of the restoration of the onetime Maritime Union building “brings us one step closer to restoring the high-quality, around-the-clock emergency care that West Side residents have been without since the April 2010 closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital.”
Dowling added that recent news about the possible closing of Peninsula Hospital Center in Queens was a reminder of the financial instability of New York area hospitals.
“North Shore-L.I.J.’s sound, realistic proposal to establish a free-standing emergency department complemented by imaging and ambulatory surgery services will give West Side residents the assurance of a stable, high-quality healthcare provider that’s committed to meeting their needs now and in the future,” Dowling said.
Nevertheless, Village groups, including the Coalition for a New Village Hospital, have been insisting that a new full-service hospital and emergency room could replace the shuttered St. Vincent’s.
