Laurie Silberfeld

As Vice President and General Counsel at Hudson River Park Trust (the Trust), Laurie Silberfeld has played an important role in shaping Hudson River Park. Silberfeld talked with CityLand about her career and the progress of Manhattan’s waterfront park. role in shaping Hudson River Park. Silberfeld talked with CityLand about her career and the progress of Manhattan’s waterfront park.

Silberfeld, a former Regional Attorney with the State’s Department of Environmental Conservation, joined the Trust in 2000. She became familiar with the Trust while working on the park project’s permit approvals at DEC. When the Trust’s General Counsel position opened, Silberfeld viewed it as a unique opportunity to be part of building something with tangible results. (more…)

St. Vincent’s made its case for a new building, while residents expressed outrage. Landmarks held two public hearings, on April 1st and 15th, regarding St. Vincent’s Hospital’s and Rudin Management Company’s proposal to build, within the Greenwich Village Historic District, 1.3 million sq.ft. of new residential and hospital space. The plan is arguably the largest ever proposed within an historic district in the history of the City’s Landmarks Law.

Under the plan, St. Vincent’s and Rudin would demolish nine buildings along Seventh Avenue between West 12th and West 11th Streets, including the O’Toole Building, a 1964 structure designed by Albert Ledner. Ledner, who trained under Frank Lloyd Wright, also designed the National Maritime Union building in Chelsea.

The demolished buildings would make room for, and transfer development rights to, a 329-foot state-of-the-art hospital, a 21-story residential tower, and rows of three-story townhouses. The new hospital, designed by I.M. Pei’s architecture firm, would consolidate all of St. Vincent’s operations into one building and feature an egg-shaped terracotta clad tower. (more…)