The city started a new chapter in the saga over the shuttered St. Vincent’s Hospital in the West Village yesterday when a City Council committee approved a controversial plan to build 350 condos on the site.
The council action came as Mayor Bloomberg said the city would buy a state-owned building at 75 Morton St. for $40 million to build a school near the site, which had been a community concern.
The Council Land Use Committee approved the blueprint for the site, setting it up for a vote in the next few weeks in the full council.
The plan, which was modified to appease a chorus of angry residents who said the project was too big, calls for 350 condo units instead of the planned 450.
It also includes 95 parking spaces, down from 152, Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced yesterday.
“The loss of St. Vincent’s was a terrible tragedy in our neighborhood,” said Quinn, who represents the area. “The ultimate agreement we have reached is a major step forward.”
The compromise, which came after a lengthy and contentious council hearing last week, also entails creating a park at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and 12th Street and constructing an AIDS memorial in that open space, as well as preserving the hospital’s historic Reiss Building.
Quinn said she will keep pushing for a new hospital, although the deal includes a plan for a 24-hour emergency room, run by North Shore-Long Island Jewish, in the O’Toole Building.
Before St. Vincent’s was forced to shut down, hospital officials had planned to demolish O’Toole and build a new hospital tower there.
Developer Bill Rudin said in a statement he’s “proud to have been able to augment our commitment to education in the area” with the city’s promise to buy the building for a new school.
“Today’s vote puts us one step closer to bringing not only these benefits to fruition, but returning quality-health care to the Village, creating more than 1,600 jobs, and revitalizing the small businesses that were so negatively impacted by St. Vincent’s closure.”