South Village

West Broadway separates the predominantly residential South Village from SoHo, dominated by factory and loft buildings, to the east.

In response, the Italian-American communities of the South Village built Our Lady of Pompeii and St. Anthony of Padua churches, which remain the area's defining religious edifices.

These South Village establishments were frequented by some of the most significant players in these cultural movements, including Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac, James Agee, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sam Shepard and Jackson Pollock.

[9] The neighborhood remained relatively free of demolitions and out-of-scale new development until the 1980s, when New York University (NYU) erected the high-rise D'Agostino Hall on West Third Street.

[15] After this, the LPC stalled on the two remaining phases of the proposed South Village Historic District, in spite of promises to move ahead.

In 2012, developer Trinity Real Estate applied for a rezoning of the adjacent Hudson Square area, which would require the approval of both the NYC Planning Commission and City Council.

Quinn had long claimed to support designation of the proposed South Village Historic District, but had not exerted any political pressure to get the City to act.

GVSHP waged a letter-writing campaign, took out ads in local papers, and published op-eds demanding that Quinn vote down the rezoning unless she was also able to get the city to move ahead with the long-delayed South Village Historic District.

On March 13, 2013, the City Council announced an agreement by the city to move ahead before year's end with Phase II of GVSHP's proposed South Village Historic District – the area east of Sixth Avenue and north of Houston Street, as well as to survey Phase III – the area south of Houston Street.

[16] When the LPC announced its proposed boundaries for Phase II – to be called "The South Village Historic District" – in April 2013, several key sites were excluded from the district, including two NYU properties, the Kevorkian Center and Vanderbilt Hall, the latter of which occupied a full block on Washington Square South and could have, under existing zoning and without landmark protections, been replaced with a 300 feet (91 m)-tall dorm.

The LPC held a public hearing on Phase III – which it referred to as the "Sullivan-Thompson Historic District" – in late November 2016, which provoked a "spirited debate".

Politicians such as Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, New York State Assemblyperson Deborah Glick, and City Council member Corey Johnson, had voiced their support for the project, and Johnson has attempted to use his support for the proposed district as leverage for the rezoning and redevelopment of St. John's Terminal at 550 Washington Street, using air rights from the city-owned Pier 40.