|
We have put together a list of frequently asked questions to keep you informed of our progress and intentions. We will add more questions to the list as they arise, so please check back for updates.
We've grouped these questions into categories for your convenience. Just click on a category name to find that category.
GENERAL QUESTIONS
What has St. Vincent's done to ensure community input into the project during its formative stages, and beyond?
We take dialogue with the community very seriously. St. Vincent's has regularly briefed local elected officials and Community Board 2 on the proposed project. We have provided assurances to these elected officials and the community that we will engage in a full and interactive discussion with the community and community leaders as our applications move forward and throughout the construction. At the last two public hearings of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, St. Vincent's was often praised by elected officials and community leaders for our availability and our transparency; many have cited our website dedicated to the public review process as a model for many future applications.
In January of 2007, St. Vincent's formed a Community Working Group composed of elected officials, representatives from Community Board 2, block associations, community leaders and physician representatives from St. Vincent's to provide a forum to receive input and disseminate information on the project throughout the public approval and development process. Twelve months later, the functions of the Community Working Group were replaced by the formal public review processes before the Landmarks Preservation Commission and, eventually, the City Planning Commission.
Throughout these formal review processes, we will continue to work with elected officials, Community Board 2, the Community Working Group participants, and other interested members of the neighborhood, along with our partners in the Rudin family, to seek input and share plans as they become available.
How did St. Vincent's determine that 366 beds are enough to meet community needs?
St. Vincent's regularly undertakes assessments of the healthcare needs of the community and its role in the larger community as a provider of emergency health services and trauma capacity to determine its long-term infrastructure needs as an acute care hospital and trauma center, including inpatient, emergency, ambulatory care, and home-based services. The most recent analysis provided a road map for the development of a new clinical infrastructure for St. Vincent's Hospital in a post-Berger Commission environment. The objective of the planning process was to design a community based health care delivery system predicated on neighborhood and zip code-level data to best address the clinical demands projected for the future.
This analysis was based on the hospital's primary service area (PSA) demographics, historical community demand as recorded in the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) database, disease management/ambulatory care sensitive conditions/prevention quality indicators, and future projected utilization. External factors in the analysis include the impact of changing demographics, use rates and medical advances. Internal factors include advanced technologies, improved efficiencies and clinical enhancements resulting in better throughput and a decrease in inpatient length of stay.
As a result of this comprehensive analysis, St. Vincent's has identified that a minimum of 451 inpatient beds are necessary to meet community need: 366 acute care beds on-site at the acute care hospital at O'Toole plus 85 mental health beds located in leased space at the former Cabrini Hospital. To support these inpatient beds, St. Vincent's will manage its emergency department growth through the establishment of urgent care facilities within our Primary Service Area to encourage more appropriate use of the emergency room. Urgent care can provide more appropriate settings that are sized and equipped to less emergent and less intensive care, closer to the home of our patients. Surgical, interventional, and diagnostic imaging space will be sized and environmentally equipped to accommodate advancements in medical and surgical technologies. New, decentralized ambulatory care centers will provide services more easily accessible to our patients, who comprise more than 240,000 outpatient visits per year.
Why is the building 625,000 gross square feet?
Based on the proposed service composition noted above, a detailed functional space program was developed. In optimally configured space, the program was determined to require approximately 600,000 to 650,000 gross square feet of space for an acute care hospital and trauma center. In refining the size of the new building, St. Vincent's was guided by the state and federal laws governing design and construction of healthcare facilities, as well as by national regulatory bodies such as the National Fire Protection Association and the Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. St. Vincent's also relied on the 2006 edition of the American Institute of Architects Guidelines for Design of Healthcare Facilities, which has been adopted into law in 47 states. After applying these codes and guidelines to the clinical program requirements defined in the community needs assessment, the resulting proposed building mass is 625,000 gross square feet.
How will the facilities and services performed at the current St. Vincent's all fit into the new hospital site?
The new St. Vincent's will be dedicated primarily to emergency services and inpatient hospital surgical and medical care. We plan to relocate other services that are currently housed in the hospital, including doctor offices, outpatient services, administration and support functions to other locations. This means that the new acute care facility will be able to have a smaller footprint while still meeting the very important mission of providing health care to our communities. Placing hospital outpatient and other primary care services outside the traditional hospital setting makes a great deal of sense from a public policy and public health perspective as well, because these services can then be located more directly in the communities we serve. St. Vincent's is also relocating its physician offices to a nearby location.
How will St. Vincent's raise funds for construction of the new hospital?
St. Vincent's has embarked on an ambitious philanthropic campaign under the leadership of new Board Chairman, Alfred E. Smith, IV, to raise funds for the new building. This philanthropic campaign will be supplemented by cash from operations, proceeds from the sale to Rudin after existing debt on the main campus is paid off, and a construction loan. To further offset the cost of construction, St. Vincent's will also seek grant opportunities such as those available for deployment of energy conservation systems and practices.
THE PUBLIC REVIEW PROCESSES
What regulatory approvals are necessary for St. Vincent's to build the new hospital?
St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan is located within the Greenwich Village Historic District. Although none of the buildings are individually landmarked, they are protected by the laws governing landmark districts in the City of New York. The first step in the necessary public review process is for St. Vincent's to obtain approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission for any demolition, alteration, and/or new construction at the site of the existing facilities. For more information on the landmarks process, please refer to http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/html/home/home.shtml.
Additionally, because the three parcels owned by St. Vincent's are - as a result of a 1979 zoning action required for the construction of Coleman and Link - considered one Large Scale Community Facility, we must obtain approval from the City Planning Commission for any redevelopment on this site. After successful completion of the Landmarks review process, St. Vincent's will submit to the Department of City Planning an application for zoning approvals pursuant to the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, otherwise known as ULURP. More information on the ULURP process is available at http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/home.html.
Lastly, St. Vincent's is licensed to provide hospital and healthcare services by the New York State Department of Health. Although the St. Vincent's project is subject to the complex land use processes of New York City, it is ultimately the State of New York that determines the size and service composition of the new hospital, and approves its capital and financial structure. These determinations are made though the C.O.N. review process.
What is a C.O.N.?
The acronym C.O.N. refers to Certificate of Need. The C.O.N. process is administered by the New York State Department of Health and serves as the state's methodology for regulating entry and exit from the healthcare system. The C.O.N. process governs all capital expenditures, in excess of $3 million, that any hospital or other healthcare facility in New York proposes to undertake. The C.O.N. process also strictly regulates bed and services, irrespective of capital cost. More information on the C.O.N. process is available at http://www.health.state.ny.us/.
How does the Berger Commission report affect this project?
In 2005, when Governor George Pataki and the state legislature created an independent body, The Commission on Healthcare Facilities of the 21st Century (a/k/a the "Berger Commission"), they did so with the expectation of "a rational, independent review of health care capacity and resources in the state to ensure that the regional and local supply of general hospital and nursing home facilities is best configured to appropriately respond to community needs for quality, affordable and accessible care, with meaningful efficiencies in delivery and financing that promote infrastructure stability."
In its final report, "A Plan to Stabilize and Strengthen New York's Healthcare System", the Berger Commission found that St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan "requires major physical and programmatic reconfigurations, including compete overhaul of its hospital once they emerge from bankruptcy".
It released its recommendations in November 2006 and among them were the recommended closures of St. Vincent's Midtown Hospital (the former St. Clare's) and Cabrini Medical Center. The Governor and Legislature accepted all of the Commission's recommendations. With the closure of St. Vincent's Midtown in September 2007, St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan is now the only hospital on the West Side from Tribeca to 59th Street. In light of the closures, our role has become more critical to the provision of healthcare for the West Side and Downtown. As anticipated, St. Vincent's continues to see an increase in emergency department visits and admissions due to these closures. It operates one of two trauma centers (along with Bellevue) serving much of Manhattan.
Where can I learn more about the Berger Commission report?
Charted by Governor George Pataki and the state legislature, and more commonly referred to as the Berger Commission, the enabling legislation and deliberations of "The Commission on Healthcare Facilities of the 21st Century" are publicly available online at http://www.nyhealthcarecommission.org/.
What precedent will approval of this project set on future development in Greenwich Village and other Historic Districts?
A review of the Historic District Maps indicates that St. Vincent's is the only hospital in New York City to be mapped within a designated historic district. It appears that when the perimeter lines of the Upper East Side Historic District were drawn, planners specifically carved out Lenox Hill Hospital from the district - perhaps an acknowledgement of the special needs of a hospital facility.
Why did St. Vincent's file a "hardship" application with the Landmarks Preservation Commission for demolition of the O'Toole Building?
In April of 2008, the Landmarks Preservation Commission received testimony from St. Vincent's and Rudin, as well as members of the public, during two public hearings. At their public meeting on May 6th, the commissioners offered comments on the project which suggested that St. Vincent's and Rudin reconsider the extent of demolition and new construction associated with the five applications pending before the Commission. The commissioners also expressed their reluctance to approve our request to demolish the O'Toole Building based solely on lack of historic significance. In light of these remarks, St. Vincent's elected to file for a hardship determination on the demolition of O'Toole.
The Landmarks Law of the City of New York provides an alternate avenue for a not-for-profit owner of a landmarked property to seek relief from the Commission when "maintenance of the landmark physically or financially prevents or seriously interferes with carrying out the charitable purpose" of the organization.
The continuation of St. Vincent's Hospital's role as an acute care hospital and trauma center is an essential component of the charitable purposes of St. Vincent's Hospital. As detailed in documents submitted to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, these charitable purposes cannot be maintained without the demolition of O'Toole, because (1) the existing acute care and trauma facilities in their existing condition do not permit St. Vincent's Hospital to carry out its charitable purposes, (2) the renovation of the existing acute care and trauma facilities does not permit St. Vincent's Hospital to carry out its charitable purposes, (3) there is no practical way to demolish the current facilities to serve as a site for new facilities in a manner that permits St. Vincent's Hospital to carry out its charitable purposes, (4) St. Vincent's Hospital neither owns nor leases other tracts of land other than the land on which O'Toole is sitting that would permit it to build a new acute care and trauma center facility in a manner that permits St. Vincent's Hospital to carry out its charitable purposes, and (5) there are no practical methods by which to retain O'Toole on the Site in conjunction with the construction of a new acute care hospital and trauma center on the Site that would permit St. Vincent's Hospital to carry out its charitable purposes. The documentation presented to the Landmarks Preservation Commission is available for public review on our website www.svcmc.org.
Again, since St. Vincent's is the only hospital located within an historic district, a hardship finding based on our charitable mission will not serve as a precedent for any future cases.
DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW HOSPITAL
How tall are the existing buildings versus the heights of the proposed buildings?
The O'Toole Building is 82 feet to the top of mechanicals and the proposed hospital is 299 feet to the top of mechanicals. East of Seventh Avenue, the tallest existing building - the Coleman Pavilion - is 200 feet tall, while the proposed residential tower is 233 feet tall. All height measurements provided are inclusive of rooftop mechanical equipment.
How many square feet are in the new hospital building?
The gross square footage of the building (above grade plus basements) is proposed as 625,000. To mitigate the overall height and mass of the building, four basement floors of program are planned; therefore, the mass above grade is proposed as 470,000 gross square feet.
Will the proposed development of hospital and residential buildings result in an increase in building density?
The proposed hospital program for the O'Toole and Triangle sites totals 480,000 gross square feet above grade, where today the existing buildings add up to 173,000 gross square feet above grade. Construction of the new hospital results in an increase of approximately 300,000 gross square feet above grade.
For the proposed residential development east of Seventh Avenue, the existing gross square footage above grade is 763,000 as compared to 649,000 gross square feet above grade in the proposal - a reduction of 114,000 gross square feet above grade.
How long is each phase of the project estimated to last?
The first phase of the project is the public review process, including applications filed with and reviewed by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, the New York City Planning Commission, and the New York State Department of Health. It will also include several hearings at Community Board 2 for public input and feedback. We expect the public review process to last 18 to 24 more months from the date of original application filing with the Landmarks Preservation Commission in December 2007.
Once the necessary governmental approvals are received, St. Vincent's will begin demolition of the O'Toole Building and construction of the new hospital. We expect that demolition and construction will last approximately four years. After the new hospital is built, St. Vincent's will move all operations out of the existing facilities on the east side of Seventh Avenue. The Rudin Family will then begin the process of demolition and construction for its residential facilities. The Rudin Family projects a four-year period for demolition and construction.
How will St. Vincent's protect neighboring buildings, pedestrians, and vehicular traffic during construction?
St. Vincent's will continue to operate during the entirety of construction at these sites-the current hospital will be in operation during the construction of the new hospital and the new hospital will be in operation while the Rudin site is built. Thus, it is in the best interest of not only the surrounding community but also of our patients, employees, and physicians to mitigate all construction impacts. We will take measures to ensure all safety, noise and pollution impacts are addressed. St. Vincent's and Rudin will institute comprehensive site safety and logistics plans which will be enforced to the greatest extent possible throughout construction. The community will also be made well aware of construction schedules and techniques, and will have the opportunity to provide feedback throughout the construction phase.
Where are the ambulances bays in the new hospital?
We are recommending that the direction of 12th Street will remain as it is today, east-bound only, with ambulance entry points provided on both Seventh Avenue and 12th Street. Internal layout and operations within the Emergency Department will be organized to encourage ambulance drop-off's on Seventh Avenue, although 12th Street will remain available for ambulances traveling from south and west of the site. We believe this arrangement will result in ambulance traffic patterns not dissimilar from those employed today, except that ambulances will no longer pass through the intersection of 12th Street and 7th Avenue to reach the existing facility on the east side of Seventh Avenue.
Won't ambulance activity on the north side of 12th Street conflict with use the loading dock on the south side of the street?
The loading dock facility will be reconstructed to reposition the dock entries on an angle which is easier for trucks to back into. We expect this will reduce the number of turns obstructing traffic as truck drivers presently perform in attempt to align the truck into the bay. Additionally, the loading bays will be made deeper to allow for vehicles to more fully recess into the building, off the sidewalk and street.
Will you consult with the community on the design of the Triangle garden area?
Almost all of the input we have received from the community has been in favor of keeping the triangle open, while asking that St. Vincent's re-commit to making it an attractive, useable space. As you may know, we have already taken steps to spruce up the service structure as well as the triangle by partnering with the New York Horticultural Society for new plantings and maintenance of the green space.
The service building will remain on the triangle as it is a necessary part of our supply chain operations. The architects are looking at ways to re-conceive the service building to make it more attractive and more easily accessible for deliveries. Our current architectural concept considers a park-like community space on the triangle, with additional greenery to be added to the roof of the service structure. As we move forward, we will continue to work with interested members of the community on the final design and uses of the triangle.
Will the new hospital be LEED certified?
For those who are not familiar with this term, LEED refers to The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating SystemTM, the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings, as issued by the U.S. Green Buildings Council (www.usgbc.org). LEED recognizes performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality guidelines. Although LEED does not presently address healthcare construction, The American Society of Healthcare Engineers (www.ashe.org) has revised the LEED guidelines to apply to health care, and USGBC is evaluating the ASHE proposal and is expected to adopt the healthcare LEED guidelines at some point within the next year. St. Vincent's will follow the ASHE interpretation of LEED for healthcare construction when planning the design and operation of the new hospital. We will pursue the highest level feasible, once ASHE has clarified it. We will keep you informed of any developments in this area.
LEED certification is becoming a beneficial factor in many areas, including city land use reviews, corporate giving, grants, and financing.
SITE SELECTION FOR THE NEW HOSPITAL
Why did St. Vincent's select the O'Toole Building site as the location of the new hospital?
In looking at the property that we own, St. Vincent's made the determination that the O'Toole Building Site was the most logical site for a new hospital. It didn't require us to acquire new property. The building does not support efficient use of space - it is currently used for physician offices and health center clinics, but more than 40% of the building is unusable. The site is also located on 7th Avenue, providing easy access for ambulances. It is also located adjacent to three major subway lines and the PATH. The alternative of a mid-block hospital was considered unfeasible, as it would be out of context with many parts of Manhattan where taller buildings are located on the avenues and smaller buildings mid-block.
Why can't St. Vincent's just renovate the existing buildings?
A detailed assessment of the difficulties of renovating the existing campus has been presented at several public meetings. This assessment is available for review at our website http://www.svcmc.org/.
It is estimated that phased renovation of the entire campus would take 10 to 15 years to complete, would be very disruptive to patient care, and - at an estimated cost of $1.6 billion - and still would not yield many of the clinical program improvements afforded by a new facility. A product of generations of building expansions and reconfigurations, there are significant functional and space inefficiencies in the existing buildings that impede St. Vincent's ability to provide continuing high-tech and innovative healthcare services as envisioned in our concept for a new hospital Many of our existing buildings were originally designed as open hospital 'wards' or for non-healthcare purposes. As a result, these building footprints do not lend themselves to conversion to commonly acceptable standards of care.
Healthcare delivery today relies heavily on major technologic advancements in medicine, particularly in the last decade. The prevalence of minimally invasive, image guided procedures has dramatically reduced the need to cut open the patient, resulting in better outcomes for patients who depend less on medication during what is today a much shorter recovery process. These new medical technologies demand a physical environment which delivers critical infrastructure services such as, increased frequency of air exchange, precision control of air temperature and quality, increased consumption of normal power, unrestricted access to emergency power.
As important, these new medical technologies demand space which supports flexibility in use over time through wide spacing of structural support columns, reinforcement of floors to support the weight of equipment intensive occupancy, uniform horizontal floor elevations, and increased spacing between floors to provide space above the finished ceiling for the complex web of ventilation, lighting, power, information technology, and life safety systems required in today's healthcare environment. The standard minimal floor-to-floor height for the construction of acute care hospitals is 13 ft for bed floors and 16 ft for surgical, diagnostic and procedural floors. Only nine percent of the existing Hospital floors are built to that standard.
St. Vincent's Hospital today is an assemblage of buildings built for various purposes over an 80-year period of time. The American Hospital Association reports that the average age nationally of a hospital physical plant in 2005 was 9.9 year. The 2007 Almanac of Hospital Financing and Operating Indicators, with data derived from cost reports every hospital in the country must file annually with the Federal government Medicare program, notes that the average age of physical plant of New York State hospitals is 15.4 years, which is noted as the oldest in the nation. At St. Vincent's, the average age of its hospital buildings is 44 years old.
Why can't St. Vincent's demolish Coleman and Link and put the new hospital there?
Although the Coleman and Link sites together provide almost as much footprint as the O'Toole site, any development at this location assumes that the buildings could be decanted and demolished. In fact, almost 70% of the inpatient, diagnostic, interventional and emergency programs reside within these two buildings. It is not possible to decant these programs to other sites within the campus because the other buildings were not designed or equipped with the infrastructure required for acute care occupancy. Temporarily closing the operations in Coleman and Link, only to reopen after new construction is complete, would effectively and permanently shutdown the hospital.
Why can't St. Vincent's build the new hospital at the O'Toole site while also preserving the O'Toole building?
In designing the new hospital for the O'Toole site, four floors of clinical and support space were planned to be located below grade. This allocation of space was incorporated specifically to reduce the overall bulk of the building above grade. With this premise in mind, the design team has evaluated the feasibility of constructing four floors below grade with a new tower erected above the existing O'Toole building. Construction - both above and below the O'Toole building - presents exceptionally unique structural engineering challenges.
The existing structural columns would require exponential reinforcement to carry at least ten times the current building weight and would be footed on new caissons drilled 50 - 70 feet to reach bedrock below. As is planned for the proposed new hospital, the foundation system would require slurry wall or secant construction to compensate for the water table at the site. To install this system beneath the existing building, select areas of the cantilevered overhangs would need to be demolished to provide access for heavy equipment necessary to construct the foundation.
Once the foundation system is complete, reinforced supercolumns would need to pierce through the building and connect to a major transfer truss bridging over the existing building and provide support for the new hospital tower above. To construct the superstructure necessary to support the building - with its four new basements and a tower above - does not come without a significant premiums adding to a dramatically increased cost of construction, increased time for construction, restricted access for staging of construction on site rather than on the street, and significant increase in built square footage to compensate for additional superstructure and unusable space within the original building.
Though today the second and third floor of the Seventh Avenue side of O'Toole are usable, this area was originally designed as a 20-foot tall hiring hall topped by 9 foot tall steel girders to support two 13-foot tall floors above. The floor heights within the existing building are insufficient to accommodate diagnostic and treatment facilities in the new hospital. As a result, the interior floors would need to be completely demolished. With the existing steel girders serving as a barrier, the building could then only accommodate one floor below and one floor above this line. Thus, the current five stories of O'Toole would be reconfigured into two floors of hospital space with demising walls that preserve the current building profile. And above this reconfigured two story O'Toole building would sit the transfer truss bearing the weight of 22 new floors above.
Rising to a height of 423 feet tall, the adapted O'Toole building would contain 648,000 gross square feet - an increase over the planned 624,000 gross square feet resulting from new structural and supplemental reinforcement systems. St. Vincent's deemed this alternative to be unacceptable from many perspectives. Between the required significant alterations to the O'Toole building itself, and the impact of the resulting building above it, much if not all of the architectural features of the building would be lost in an effort to preserve it.
Why can't St. Vincent's build a new hospital at the site it owns on Sixth Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets?
The Staff Housing Site is, aside from O'Toole and the Triangle, the only other site owned by St. Vincent's Hospital that is not adjacent to the Main Campus. It is a rectangular site with an area of 30,975 (over 5,000 square feet smaller than O'Toole) with a Sixth Avenue frontage of 206.5 feet and West 15th and 16th Street frontages of 150 feet. This site is presently improved with a residential building for medical residents and staff. The site straddles three zoning districts, C6-2A, R8A and R8, providing a range of maximum FAR between 4.0 and 6.5, with a total allowable zoning floor area of 188,431 square feet.
Unlike O'Toole, this site would need to incorporate the functions of the materials handling facility now located on the Triangle. Thus the loading bays and the oxygen tanks would be included on this site and need to be accessed off the narrow streets. The location of the oxygen tanks may alone render this option impossible, since tanks with compressed gas must be at ground level but open to the sky and are rarely approved for a location on the same block as residential uses.
Given the constraints of this site, a new St. Vincent's acute care hospital and trauma center would require 665,992 gross square and 462,617 square feet of zoning floor area, which would equate to a Floor Area Ratio of 14.94 - an FAR rarely achieved outside of Midtown or the Financial District. Providing a hypothetical massing with the least amount of height, the resulting building would be 380 ft tall and would generate streetwalls of 122 ft on both the avenue and the narrow streets, where there is a height limitation of 75 ft. Unlike the existing hospital, which borrows zoning floor area from adjacent owned sites, there no adjacent owned sites and therefore insufficient zoning floor area to execute a structure of this size.
Why can't St. Vincent's acquire The New York Foundling Hospital and move the new hospital there?
The site of The New York Foundling Hospital is not for sale. Even if it was available for purchase, the 19,000 footprint of the property is totally insufficient to support a new acute care hospital and trauma center. The site lacks the streetwall perimeter necessary to accommodate a main entrance, an emergency department entrance, a loading dock, and an oxygen plant. Programmatically, the footprint cannot accommodate these services within ground floor of the building and would force the entire Emergency Department to be split onto two floors with no presence at street level. For obvious patient safety reasons, this is a clinically unacceptable situation.
Why can't St. Vincent's lease space at The New York Foundling Hospital and relocate some or all of its hospital services there?
The New York Foundling Hospital building is best described as a podium base with a tower. The 6 story podium base provides space for a pediatric nursing home. The mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and structural requirements of a nursing home are not equivalent to an inpatient hospital; therefore, St. Vincent's cannot simply relocate inpatient functions to this location without major renovation. The tower portion of the building is residential and office space and is not designed or equipped to support clinical occupancy. In The building provides a total of 179,000 gross square feet, falling far short of the required 625,000 gross square feet for the new hospital.
PLANS FOR THE CURRENT CAMPUS
What is going to happen to the current hospital campus?
The current hospital campus will be sold to the Rudin family for residential redevelopment. St. Vincent's and the Rudin family submitted their plans jointly and are presently undergoing review by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in December 2007. Following Landmarks approval, we will pursue the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) through City Planning Commission to obtain the necessary zoning approvals. St. Vincent's will remain on the current campus until the new hospital is built. Only when it is completed will the hospital vacate the campus so that the Rudin family can begin to construct the buildings approved by the City.
How was the Rudin family selected as the development partner?
St. Vincent's worked closely with real estate advisers to seek out proposals that could help achieve our vision of a new hospital. The field of candidates was narrowed to four finalists. St. Vincent's evaluated each of the developers' proposals on several key criteria including experience with similar projects in New York City, credibility as both a developer and good neighbor, purchase price for the current campus, and commitment of their senior executives to the project. The Rudin family was selected based on their proven track record in similar projects. They have demonstrated a commitment to New York City and have a long history of being an outstanding corporate citizen.
The developer selection process was tightly administered under the watchful eye of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The proposals for a new replacement hospital and a sale of the existing campus to Rudin were thoroughly vetted and were found to be the best alternative for remaining viable. Moreover, based on a full evidentiary hearing at which dozens of vested parties had leave to press for alternative approaches, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved not only St. Vincent's plan for a replacement hospital but also its selection of the development partner necessary for financing the plan.
OTHER CONCERNS
Will the residential project include affordable housing?
The original Request For Proposal, initiated by St. Vincent's and circulated to numerous developers earlier this year, was designed to achieve a singular goal: to maximize sales proceeds to St. Vincent's as an essential component necessary to pay off existing debt on the entire campus and build the modern hospital. The Rudin family was selected as the development partner because they were the high bidder and they also brought a philosophy of development that fit with what the hospital wanted to accomplish, as well as a long-standing commitment to New York City communities.
Affordable housing is not economically feasible on this site for a number of reasons:
The Sale of the Land Must Maximize Funding to St. Vincent's. In order to successfully finance and construct the new hospital St. Vincent's needs to maximize the amount of money it receives from the Rudin family. St. Vincent's agreed to sell the property east of 7th Avenue to the Rudin family for approximately $516 per square foot for approved zoning square feet available for development. Any departure from this concept can only decrease the available square footage for development reducing what St. Vincent's would receive.
Lack of Affordable Housing Subsidies on this Site: Recent legislation enacted in Albany prevents 421(a) tax exemptions from being utilized by this site. This means that full property taxes will be paid by the developer from the first day of their ownership. This is good news for the city tax coffers but will prevent anything but market rate housing from being built on this site. Also, the ability of a developer to obtain tax exempt financing from the city or the state has decreased substantially due to the fact that the State has reached the lending cap that is set by the federal government.
Community's Interest in Limiting mass and Bulk. We have been asked by members of the community to use our best efforts to minimize bulk and mass of both the new hospital and the residential campus. A substantial increase in bulk and mass to accommodate affordable housing would go against this desire by the community.
School District 2 is projected to experience an enrollment increase approaching 25% between 2004 and 2014. What about providing classroom space to help support Public School 41?
Rudin Management has facilitated a transaction wherein the New York City School Construction Authority will purchase space within The New York Foundling Hospital located on 17th Street and Sixth Avenue. The "New York Foundling Elementary School" will house classes from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade and will be able to serve over 550 students. Thanks to a unique public-private partnership between the City and the Rudin family, the school will occupy space within the building presently utilized as a pediatric nursing home which is in the process of building a new facility in Yonkers.
Is Rudin Management buying The New York Foundling Hospital building?
No. The New York Foundling Hospital will retain ownership of the building an, in fact, will retain occupancy of the tower portion of the building. Through a condominium arrangement, the City of New York will acquire the ‘podium' base of the building for construction of the new school after The New York Foundling Hospital completes construction of its planned new facility in Yonkers.
What is Rudin Management's role in the "New York Foundling Elementary School" transaction?
At numerous public meetings regarding the proposed development at St. Vincent's, many members of the community articulated the urgent need for additional classroom space in School District 2. Rudin Management listened and recognized this serious community need. Knowing that The New York Foundling Hospital intends to relocate its pediatric nursing home (the occupant of the ‘podium' base) to Yonkers, Rudin Management reached out to the New York City School Construction Authority to assess the feasibility of placing a school in the former nursing home space.
Establishment of a new school requires a complex municipal regulatory review. To mitigate the contingency of a negative outcome during regulatory review, Rudin Management serves as guarantor of the condominium purchase by the City of New York.
|
