A huge swath of the former St. Vincent’s Hospital has been demolished and will be redeveloped with new infill construction.
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | A gaping space is all that remains where some of the largest towers of the former St. Vincent’s Hospital, on Seventh Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets, once stood, following the demolition of a huge swath of the medical complex.
What’s left — with the addition of new construction — will be developed by The Rudin Organization/Global Holdings into The Greenwich Lane, 200 high-end condo residences, including five buildings, plus five single-family townhouses on 11th Street. In March 2012, the number of planned units dropped by 100 — from 450 to 350 — and has since dropped by another 150 residences. As for why the amount of apartments keeps decreasing, a spokesperson said, “In the end, they opted to go for bigger apartments — which reflects the current market.”
State Senator Brad Hoylman was chairperson of Community Board 2 when the board reviewed the Rudin project application for the former hospital site.
Asked his thoughts on the number of apartments having plunged to 200, he told our sister publication, The Villager, “It means that there will be fewer, wealthier people who will be paying for larger apartments. Fewer people will mean possibly less impact on schools and infrastructure — but it’s basically a wash. Maybe it will mean fewer cars, less pressure on infrastructure.”
However, he said, it’s hard to gauge right now exactly what the impact of fewer apartments will be. There will be 10 separate addresses. The buildings will all be connected by a “lush, private, central garden.”
The complex’s name refers to what Greenwich Avenue — one of Manhattan’s oldest streets — was known as until 1843.
According to a press release, “each building in The Greenwich Lane will have its own unique identity and address, as well as slightly different finishes, reflective of the individual character of the particular building and setting.”
Thomas O’Brien of Aero Studios, named by Architectural Digest as one of the top 100 designers in the world, is designing the interiors, creating each property’s unique style and feel.
The project’s architects, FXFowle, are targeting a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.
Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group will launch sales at The Greenwich Lane this fall. Inquiries can be made through the pre-launch Web site at www.thegreenwichlane.com. It’s expected that people will begin moving into the buildings toward the end of 2015. Pricing of the units hasn’t been finalized yet. However, the spokesperson said, “It will be comparable to other recent new luxury projects Downtown, such as 150 Charles Street [the Witkoff project at the former Whitehall storage site] and 56 Leonard Street.”
