Hundreds came out Tuesday to share concerns with the City Landmarks Preservation Commission about a plan to convert parts of St. Vincent's Hospital into West Village condos.

The plan calls for tearing down nine historical buildings to put up a $830 million green hospital along with luxury housing.

Hospital officials say the expansion is a step toward providing better care to New Yorkers. But preservationists are concerned about the project's size and the effect it will have on the neighborhood.

They want the hospital to consider smaller-scale options like renovating the existing facility.

"The new buildings are really, really out of scale for the neighborhood — unprecedented — the biggest buildings ever built in the neighborhood, and we're really worried about the precedent this would set," said Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation. "We think there's other ways that the hospital can be modernized."

St. Vincent's officials said the outdated structures make renovations impossible.

"The community and the West Side needs a brand new state of the art St. Vincent's Hospital. There is a population of a million people in our service area and it is growing in leaps and bounds. The building just can not house the technology and keep up with the needs of a brand new hospital," said St. Vincent's CEO Alfred E. Smith IV.

"We would love to be able to renovate the old buildings," said St. Vincent's Hospital Chief Executive Officer Henry Amoroso. "We would love to be able to put a modern facility in there, but every expert we've hired, everyone we've brought in to advise us, has told us it's impossible and inefficient."

Hundreds of community members attended the meeting to tell their concerns to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

"I get sick to my stomach actually, everytime I look at the proposal," said Naomi Usher, a graphic designer who has lived in Greenwich Village for more than 20 years.

"It will become unrecognizable. It will become like every other neighborhood. It won't be the Village," said resident Evette Stark Katz.

"Now we are going to have new people moving into the community because there are going to be these large buildings. And where are they going to go to school? Is there enough shopping facilities? Is there enough parking?" continued Katz.

Preservationists said approving this proposal would be the beginning of a slippery slope.

"It will set a precedent that others will use and because it doesn't require St. Vincent's to prove any individual, unique circumstances or hardship," said Berman. "The next developer could come around the corner and say, 'You let these guys build a 330-foot-tall building and demolish nine historic buildings, I should be allowed to do the same.'"

The plan must be approved, modified, or rejected by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in the next 90 days. It would also need to be approved by the City Planning Commission and the City Council.