Landmarks green lights O’Toole demolition

In a six-to-four vote, the city Landmarks Preservation Commission approved St. Vincent’s application to demolish the O’Toole Building, on Seventh Avenue between 12th and 13th streets. The controversial proposal to demolish the contemporary white building, which lies in the Greenwich Village Historic District, has incited a fierce debate between preservationists who wanted to save it and hospital officials who argued that they needed to raze it and upgrade their facilities. The hospital plans to build a new 299-foot-tall hospital in its place, which the LPC must still review and approve before construction begins. Part of the funding for the $835 million project would come from Rudin Management Co., which wants to build a 21-story luxury condo on the site of the existing St. Vincent’s Hospital. TRD