Six-story nursing home approved with enlarged floor plates and a side courtyard in lieu of rear yard. Village Care of New York, a not-for-profit entity and owner of 214 West Houston, an 11,253- square-foot lot in the West Village, proposed to replace an existing parking garage and construct a new six-story, 45,000-square-foot, 100- bed nursing home.

Village Care requested variances for lot coverage, rear yard, and setback requirements, arguing that the lot was shallow and irregularly shaped and that a complying structure would not meet the programmatic needs of the nursing home. The proposed nursing home calls for large floor plates to create an open, domestic environment rather than an institutional double-loaded corridor configuration. Village Care argued that the proposed layout was necessary to provide needed amenities such as private bathrooms, physical therapy, recreational space, respiratory infusion care, and wheelchair access. A complying plan would require smaller floor plates within a single ninestory building or two separate structures, and both scenarios would be impractical and inefficient due to the staffing and service needs required on every floor. (read more…)