By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — While nearby businesses were shutting down, lawyers, accountants and other professionals were cashing in on the bankruptcy of St. Vincent's Hospital, Crain's New York Business reported Tuesday.
The shuttered medical center, which continues to be mourned by many in Greenwich Village, has spent $17 million in legal, accounting, real estate and investment advisory fees since filing for bankruptcy last April, Crain's said.
An additional $8 million has been paid to financial advisors who were hired to assist the hospital with their fiscal woes before the April 14 filing, according to Crain's.
One of the organizations that reportedly profited most from the closing was the Midtown-based law firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel. They earned nearly $6 million during the third and fourth quarters of 2010, Crain's said.
Another law firm, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, which was hired to represent the creditors committee, racked up nearly $1.5 million in fees, even though the committee was only ever awarded $488,398, according to Crain's.
St. Vincent's closed in April 2010, after 160 years in the neighborhood, inspiring safety concerns among local residents and, some say, depressing local businesses, which had been supported by the hospital's patients and staff.
The Rudin Management Company struck a deal to acquire the hospital's real estate holdings in March, and a U.S. bankruptcy court approved the agreement last month.
As part of the deal, Rudin has promised to donate one of the buildings for an emergency treatment facility to be run by North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital.
However some residents have opposed the plan, insisting on the need for a full-service hospital that would be able to admit patients overnight.
