Size Matters
Dear George,
Have you noticed what’s been happening at the former St. Vincent’s Hospital site? The new Rubin condo buildings just keep getting bigger and bigger. Much bigger and higher than the original St. Vincent’s buildings they replaced.
I thought that the Rudin Organization got their special variance to build their new condos based on the St.Vincent’s original variance (previously won) that was an exception to build no higher than was acceptable in this neighborhood. In other words, the Rudin Condos were to be no higher or bigger than the St. Vincent’s buildings they replaced.
Now, I see that the buildings are so much bigger and denser than the original St. Vincent’s zoning allowed that it’s almost unbelievable!
It seems to me that Rudin has more than doubled the height and size of the original buildings. It’s now the highest building in the area and it keeps growing!
It’s a shame that this huge development has to be built in this charming neighborhood.
Who cares what it looks like—as long as the Rudin Organization can squeeze as much money as possible out of this huge monstrosity?
How many more millions will the Rudin Organization make with all the additional space that will be available for sale?
I wonder if this whole thing is part of the bribery scheme that has just come to light with the Department of Buildings and Department of Historic Preservation.
You would think that someone from the Department of Buildings would have noticed by now that the “new” St. Vincent’s development is much larger than the original permit, or were there bribes involved in this?
Kay Frost
In related news, Crane’s New York Business talked to Rudin Management. To keep WestView News readers posted about the former St. Vincent’s site, here are a few items from their February 18 bulletin Rudin Management, developer of the Greenwich Lane condo complex rising on the St. Vincent’s hospital’s former site announced that:
- 75% of the apartments were under contract
- They had recently topped out the tallest of the five properties— a 17-story building at 155 West 11th Street—and expect to finish the $1 billion development by the middle of 2016.
- The complex is fetching some of the highest sums per square foot ever seen for residential space downtown—averaging about $3,500 per square foot, with some of the best apartments fetching $5-6,000 per square foot.
- One of the five townhouses has gone into contract for nearly $25 million—it has been reported elsewhere that Michael Kors has purchased a 3-bedroom apartment for at least $17 million.
- Mr. Rudin also assured Crane’s that, unlike the dubious foreigners investing their ill-gotten gains in the city’s high end residential market described in recent articles in The New York Times, “Ninety percent of our buyers are domestic, and 70% are New Yorkers.”
—Maggie Berkvist
