Neighbors will sell the building
Annie Leibovitz damaged to her

The building on the corner, 311 W. 11th St., was damaged last year during renovations at adjacent building to left, owned by Annie Leibovitz.

Four months after filing a $15 million lawsuit against famous celebrity portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz for unleashing an alleged “terror campaign” against them that culminated in the near destruction of their West Village townhouse, the displaced residents now plan to sell the crippled building to Leibovitz.

Robert Snider said yesterday that within the next week they hope to sell the historic, 1830s red-brick residence and work out a settlement with Leibovitz. The parties have agreed on a sale price but he said he did not want to divulge it without consulting his lawyer.

Snider, his wife and their four-year-old son have been unable to live in the building at the corner of 11th and Greenwich Sts. for the last seven months after workers for Leibovitz undermined the party wall between one of her buildings and the Snider’s, causing the wall to drop a few inches and detach from the floors. The building was declared unsafe for occupancy by the Department of Buildings, but the agency did not order its demolition.

The neighbors’ building, at 311 W. 11th St., and Leibovitz’s adjacent townhouse on Greenwich St. are currently heavily braced with steel beams anchored to large concrete blocks on the sidewalk. Snider said two walls of his building are so badly damaged they will have to be torn down and completely rebuilt. The building’s historic interior has already been gutted due to the emergency shoring work that was needed, he said.

Leibovitz had been gutting and renovating two adjacent townhouses, which she joined into one residence. Snider said he believes after Leibovitz buys their building, she will combine it with the other two for a home of about 10,000 sq. ft.

Andrew Jones, a preservationist who lives on 11th St., said neighbors have been taking photos of the corner building to document it in case it collapses. Pointing out bulging bricks and step cracks last week, he said during the recent rains he heard water pouring inside through the hole in the roof where it had detached from the party wall. He believes the front wall of the southern of Liebovitz’s two buildings also will have to be rebuilt.

“It’s very important that she rebuild them exactly as they were,” he said, noting that if not it could set a dangerous precedent where developers intentionally damage buildings in the Greenwich Village Historic District and then alter their exteriors. “There must be a very clear standard set by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on this,” Jones said.

Jones preserved antique door surrounds and a lintel that workers had ripped out of one of the Liebovitz buildings.

“People don’t understand why someone would buy an old home only to take out all the historical details,” he said. “Those houses were always carefully preserved by their owners.” He called the braced-up buildings a neighborhood “eyesore.”

Robert Hajdu, Leibovitz’s real estate attorney, did not return a phone call for comment.