Mt. Sinai about to grow

From the Daily News:

The state Health Department has approved a major facelift of a western Queens hospital.

Mount Sinai Hospital Queens in Long Island City is moving forward with a sweeping $113 million expansion that would erect a state-of-the-art five-story medical building on its campus.

“We need a medical facility to accommodate the growing neighborhood,” Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas told the Daily News on Monday. “There are many young families moving in.”

The state issued a contingent approval letter last month, an important hurdle before construction can begin on the facility, agency officials said.

The operator, which is part of the larger Mount Sinai hospital network, will still have to submit legal documentation to the agency before final approval, Health Department spokesman Peter Constantakes said.

“The project will provide significant improvements to emergency and urgent services, imaging, endoscopy, ambulatory surgery, physician space, operating rooms and patient support spaces,” according to an executive summary prepared following an April hearing.

The hospital expects to break ground in September and complete construction in 2016.

A coalition of nine elected officials have been pushing for approval since 2012.