In October, when members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission made what they called , and commission gadfly, said he had his own theory for why the hospital was fighting so hard to maintain the height of its tower. “At its heart, this is a real estate deal,” he said. “They want to bulk up as much here as they can so they can bulk up as much as they can on the Rudin site.” He was referring to the site of the old hospital building across 7th Avenue, which St. Vincent’s is selling to the Rudin family for $300 million to help fund hospital construction. The Rudins then hope to build an FXFowle-designed 20-story condominium tower on the site. White believes the developer will use the comparatively taller new hospital tower to defend the massive-by-Village-standards height of its new building.