Historic Hospital Closure Leaves Prime RE Up for Grabs

The board of St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers has voted to close its flagship hospital in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, after a year’s struggle to work its way out of debt. The 400-bed St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan is already in the process of being shut down, with the New York State Department of Health stepping in to ensure an orderly closing.

Changes in the health care industry and the historic neighborhood and low profits contributed to the hospital’s financial troubles. To satisfy its creditors, the hospital may sell or lease much of its valuable Greenwich Village real estate to repay its estimated $700 million of debt.

St. Vincent’s now gets most of its admissions through its emergency department, which could be a match for an urgent care facility, say hospital administrators. The search for a partner hospital, which would be needed to maintain an urgent care center, is already under way. St. Vincent’s, the last Roman Catholic general hospital in New York, has served Manhattan’s West Side and downtown for 160 years.