William Rudin, the head of Rudin Management Co., is negotiating with the estate of St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village and its creditors including GE Capital to purchase its campus and partially resurrect its redevelopment, according to an article by Dana Rubinstein in today's edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Last spring the hospital sought bankruptcy protection after a long and contentious controversy with the Landmarks Preservation Commission over its development plans that called for replacing the Edward and Theresa O'Toole Medical Services Building with nautical motifs on the west side of Seventh Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets with a new hospital tower and converting many of its properties across the avenue into luxury residential condominiums.

"Under the original 2007 deal, the family business, Rudin Management Co., would have paid $300 million for St. Vincent's campus, converting four hospital buildings and demolishing four others, replacing them with town houses and apartment buildings," the article noted, adding that "Now Mr. Rudin wants to cut the price, according to people familiar with the matter, though they wouldn't say what his new offer is."

Although other buyers could "step in," the article continued, "Mr. Rudin has a clear advantage." "He owns the plans that he spent three years preparing and getting approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission," the article continued, adding that "a new buyer would have to start from square one."

The article said that Mr. Rudin and representatives of the hospital and GE Capital declined to comment.

With the exception of a small building in Boston, all of Rudin Management's assets -16 office towers and 20 apartment buildings, totaling more than 14 million square feet - are in New York City. Mr. Rudin heads up the Association for a Better New York, the organization his father, Lewis Rudin, founded in 1971.

"While Mr. Rudin is looking at numerous deals all the time, St. Vincent's is clearly front and center these days. The Rudins - including daughter Samantha - are busy converting a former St. Vincent's office building at 130 W. 12th St. into residen tial units. The family acquired the building earlier this year as a deed in lieu of foreclosure after St. Vincent's borrowed money from the Rudins and used the building as collateral," the article said.

The article gave no indication of what plans, if any, the hospital or the Rudins had for the O'Toole building.

The hospital bought the O'Toole Building four years after the landmarks commission had included it within the Greenwich Village Historic District and in 1979 the City Planning Commission permitted the hospital to treat its properties on both sides of Seventh Avenue as a "large scale community facility development" so that it could pool all the air rights together to expand its complex.

The landmarks commission indicated in May, 2008 that the O'Toole Building, which was designed in 1964 by Albert Ledner for the National Maritime Union, could not be demolished under a certificate of appropriateness because it contributed significantly to the historic district. The hospital then made a hardship application to demolish it based on principles in a case involving Sailors Snug Harbor properties in Staten Island. The landmarks commission subsequently voted six to four October 28, 2008 to approve the application.