Developer receives loan for St. John's hospital conversion

From The Real Deal:

A group of Asia-based developers led by Steven Wu secured a $32 million construction loan that will finance the completion of the final stage of the St. John’s Hospital conversion in Elmhurst, Queens. Madison Realty Capital provided the loan, which lined up an earlier $38 million acquisition loan for the property.

Leasing at the 266,322-square-foot property – which the developers bought in December 2013 for $55 million – will commence soon, Madison Realty Capital co-founder Josh Zegen told The Real Deal.

No major renovations were needed at the former hospital, which is located along Queens Boulevard between 57th Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard, Zegen said. The development will ultimately hold 144 rental apartments divided among 148,109 square feet and will include about 118,213 square feet of commercial and community space.

Studios, one- and two-bedroom units will be located on the third through sixth floors, with a penthouse on the seventh floor with 15-foot ceilings. The penthouse will be one of eight such units in the building, and each will have a private roof terrace. The second floor will hold a community space, with retail space located on the ground floor and in the basement.

The building at 90-02 Queens Boulevard also comes with an 89,601-square-foot parking garage across the street that can hold around 290 spaces that will be used for the building’s future tenants as well as the commercial component of the development.

Former site of St. John's Queens Hospital sold

From Crains:

The former St. John's hospital building on Queens Boulevard near the Queens Center Mall has been acquired for more than $50 million by a developer who plans to convert the bulk of the property into apartments. A group of Asia-based investors led by the New York builder Steven Wu purchased the property for roughly $55 million and plans to spend as much as $45 million more to convert the former medical facility into rental housing and medical office space as well as to add ground-floor retail space.

The deal included the roughly 260,000-square-foot hospital building at 90-02 Queens Blvd. in Elmhurst, Queens, and also a five-story parking garage across the street at 87-28 58th Ave. that the buyer will use to provide parking space for future tenants at the property.

Details of shady Mattone deal being FOILed

From the Queens Chronicle:

Convinced that something is amiss in an Elmhurst real estate deal, community board members and civic association leaders are investigating the history of a 2.3-acre property located between the Queens Center mall and the Long Island Expressway, where the Mattone Group plans to build three restaurants: Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse and Joe’s Crab Shack. The Newtown Civic Association filed a Freedom of Information Request with the city’s Economic Development Corporation for all documents related to the site, last Wednesday. If the EDC’s records confirm their suspicions, the civic association will bring its findings to the city’s Department of Investigation.

Newtown Civic Association President Tom McKenzie, a longtime member of the Community Board 4 Planning Committee, remembers when the city sold the land, which was then a municipal parking lot, to the Mattone Group for $2.2 million in 2001.

Mattone signed a contract with the EDC, promising to build a movie theater on the lot within four and half years and to buy the dilapidated Elmwood Theater across the street and donate the proceeds to the Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn and Queens, which operated nearby St. John’s Hospital. If those conditions were not met, the city would be able to buy back the property for $1.

Mattone had originally planned to have Loews operate the theater, but Loews declared bankruptcy and Mattone struggled to find a replacement. The lot has been used for commercial truck parking until recently, when Mattone erected a fence around the property. Mattone never purchased the Elmwood Theater and therefore no proceeds were donated to the Catholic Medical Center. The theater was sold to the Rock Church and St. John’s Hospital went bankrupt in 2009.

In 2010, the EDC issued an eviction notice and Mattone sued the city. The judge ruled in favor of the EDC, but Mattone appealed and reached a settlement with the agency for $3 million and signed a new contract with it on Feb. 6, 2013, modifying the zoning requirements so that Mattone could build the restaurants. The money went straight to the agency and the promises made to the community evaporated.

Mattones return to screw Elmhurst again

From the Queens Chronicle:

A former parking lot between the Queens Center mall and the Long Island Expressway has been empty for the past 12 years and now the developers who own it want to build three restaurants there.

The College Point-based Mattone Group presented its plan at an informational Newtown Civic Association meeting in Corona Tuesday night. The company would bring in an Olive Garden, a Longhorn Steakhouse and Joe’s Crab Shack, which will cover approximately 25,000 to 30,000 square feet, surrounded by free parking spaces. If the plan moves forward, they predict that the establishments will open in April or May 2014.

Most of the meeting focused on the civic association members’ parking and traffic congestion-related concerns, but Robert Valdes-Clausell, an officer of the Newtown Civic Association and a member of Community Board 4, brought up the property’s history and the developer’s history of shortchanging the surrounding community.

Valdes-Clausell also noted the meeting’s unusual timing, in the summer, when many community members are away.

“This has all the trappings of something that is not kosher,” he said of the new plan.

The city’s Economic Development Corp. sold the property, which was a city parking lot, to Mattone on Dec. 17, 2001 for $2.2 million. The City Council, including the area’s former Councilman John Sabini (D-Elmhurst), approved the deal, overriding the objections of CB 4 and disregarding the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.

Mattone’s contract with EDC contained several restrictions. The developer was supposed to build a movie theater, which Loews would operate, within four and a half years and buy the dilapidated Elmwood Theater, and give the proceeds to Catholic Medical Services, which then operated St. John’s Hospital according to Valdes-Clausell. If those restrictions were not met, the EDC was entitled to buy back the property for $1.

The Mattone Group did not comply with the restrictions, but the EDC did not repossess the property. Loews declared bankruptcy shortly after, and Mattone never found a replacement as the movie-theater business was in decline. Therefore, Mattone never purchased the Elmwood Theater and Loews sold it to the Rock Church instead. St. John’s Hospital filed for bankruptcy in 2009.

On Feb. 6, 2013 Mattone signed a new contract with the EDC, in which the developer paid $3 million to modify the original deed from 2001, allowing it to build the restaurants on the property.

Mattone claims that they did not need to seek community approval because the proposed restaurants are in accordance with area zoning laws and that informing the community before beginning construction was merely a courtesy.

Valdes-Clausell accused Mattone of putting the cart before the horse, by making a new deal with EDC without informing or asking the community about it first.

Moreover, the $3 million in the recent contract went straight to the EDC, not the community.

Developer looking to bail on St. John's project

The site has been "gutted to the steel and concrete" - but at least they put in new windows.

This can be yours for the low, low price of only $55 million!

St. John's building getting ready for next chapter

From the Queens Chronicle:

Construction on the building that was formerly the home of St. John’s Hospital in Elmhurst is fully underway, according to Community Board 4, which represents the area. While it looks much the same as it always has from the outside, the former hospital, located at 90-02 Queens Blvd., has been completely gutted, according to CB 4 Chairman Anthony Moreno.

In published reports, a representative for 89-52 Queens LLC said the developer had been open to using the space as a healthcare facility, but that no medical providers had shown interest in the property.

So, as described Moreno, the firm has opted to build a commercial and residential space instead, and he is pleased with the results thus far.

Moreno described the former hospital as “a beautiful building,” which he told board members he toured three weeks ago with the developers and Councilman Danny Dromm (D-Jackson Heights).

The building will have a grocery store in the basement or ground floor and then two floors of retail space. The third floor will be used as offices, while the fourth floor will provide “community services,” according to Moreno, such as doctor’s and dentist’s offices.

The top three floors will be apartments ranging from studios to three bedrooms, Moreno said.

Marshall likes hospitals (and development)

From the Daily News:

Hopes of having the former site of St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst revived as a comprehensive medical facility are flat-lining.

A developer has filed paperwork with the city Department of Buildings to convert the vacant facility into a mixed-use commercial space that features three floors of apartments and one floor for ambulatory care.

The Buildings Department rejected the company's initial proposal last week, and the owner will have to submit a corrected proposal, officials said.

Among the documents the developer must resubmit are zoning and code analyses and fire protection and materials analyses, she said.

But details are scant on what kind of medical care will be offered at what the application describes as an "ambulatory diagnostic treatment facility," proposed for the fifth floor of the former hospital.

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall said she had wanted another hospital to replace the defunct St. John's and has inquired with the company about how extensive the treatment facility would be.

"Queens is in a medical crisis. St. John's is gone and people who need emergency care don't have a place in the neighborhood that they can go to," Marshall said.

So why are you still greenlighting megadevelopment projects?

Fate of St. John's Queens Hospital is sealed

SJQH Proposed Certificate of Occupancy
75 units plus a mall and diagnostic facility but parking for only 18 cars? Sounds about right...

Thank goodness. I was concerned they may put another hospital here! Our poor showing in the census proves that we need more people, not more health care.

Dear Governor

Op-Ed: What Is Wrong With Everyone In Queens? (from the Queens Gazette)
BY JOHN KRALL

Dear Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo,

I am writing this Op-Ed piece to simply ask you, the new sheriff in town, what can be done to fix the healthcare crisis in our borough of Queens, the borough where your father started his political career and where you grew up.

It is a fact that the waiting times in all Queens Emergency Rooms exceed 18 hours, the borough is more than 1,000 in-patient beds short, and patients can wait in hallways up to 3 days before being moved to their rooms. Are we living in a third world country? Queens is one of the largest counties in the state, if not the country by density of population and our healthcare services are considered the worst by any measurable standard. We are a swine flu or terrorist attack away from an epic disaster. Doesn’t anyone realize this or even care?

Since 2007 four major hospitals have been closed in Queens, three voluntarily and one was forced to close. Of these four facilities, those that were closed voluntarily all have been gutted and their properties sold off to developers for non-healthcare related projects. It is interesting to note that these same three facilities were given in excess of $100 million of state funds to remain open before they were closed and none of these funds were returned after they were liquidated. Why were the CEOs of these “not-for-profit” entities paid millions of dollars to basically act in such an intolerable business manner? It is very apparent that they cared more about hiding what they did with the $100 million of state funds then they cared about the quality of healthcare for the people of Queens.

The Berger Commission was formed to try and save the state monies in determining excesses in healthcare dollars so that monies could be targeted where it could best be utilized. This process has not worked because the Berger Commission has not been able to enforce the closure of at least 50 percent of the originally flagged facilities. The Berger Commission was originally chartered with deciding which hospitals and nursing homes were deemed necessary and which were redundant back in 2006. Unfortunately today, even the DOH acknowledges that the conditions that Berger used to make these evaluations have changed. The DOH today agrees that Queens is in need of at least 1,000 plus in-patient acute care beds. Queens has the worst ratio of patient to inpatient beds of all the counties in NY State.

There is one facility left in the entire borough of Queens that can become a hospital today. It can become operational in 120 days utilizing no state or city funds and it can hire more than 1,000 people in this time period. It can put 251 acute care inpatient beds back online and will infuse back to the city and state in excess of $5 million dollars in sales and real estate taxes while creating a 20 bed Emergency Room into a community where 18 hour wait times are the norm. It can offer other critical medical services such as seven operating rooms, advanced radiology, Lab, ICU, CCU and more. It will service communities such as Forest Hills, Rego Park, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Middle Village, Glendale, Maspeth and Woodhaven. All of these communities have not experienced quality patient care during the past decade and more. In addition, having this particular facility come back online is critical in case of a terrorist attack or medical emergency. It is located half way between both LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports and across from Flushing Meadows Corona Park. In case of a disaster, you can land helicopters in the park and you can triage people and move them around quickly since Queens Blvd, LIE, Van Wyck, Grand Central Parkway are all within minutes from this facility.

Governor-elect Cuomo, the facility that I am alluding to is Parkway Hospital. It would cost the state in excess of $1.2 million per inpatient bed or about $300 million to replace what you have today on the service road of the Grand Central Parkway. By simply being granted the operating license of Parkway Hospital the county would gain all the benefits of a state of the art medical facility but it would cost the city and state zero dollars.

Since you are taking over the reigns of a new administration and in your campaign you promised to clean up Albany, why not start in Queens by helping our local politicians, both Democrats and Republicans. Unfortunately, this week, we lost a great Democratic leader Gloria D’Amico. After speaking with her many times I know of her great concern for the quality of healthcare in Queens. In addition, my 81 year old mother lives in the area where Parkway Hospital would service and I am very concerned where her or her friends would have to go if they needed quality inpatient hospital services today.

I urge you, Mr. Cuomo, to read this letter carefully and consider what I am saying here. The people and politicians of Queens County are looking for a strong Democratic leader to guide them through the political process of reopening Parkway Hospital.

Parkway Hospital is waiting for the political winds to change and allow its reopening as of January 1, 2011.

I hope this letter has hit its mark.

Fewer hospitals, more clinics (and bike lanes!)

From the Daily News:

QUEENS MAY BE running a little low on hospitals these days, but there seems to be an abundance of medical clinics and centers popping up around the borough.

North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System just opened an urgent care clinic in Rego Park to help alleviate the pressure on local emergency rooms.

North Shore also opened up two ambulatory centers of medical specialists in Flushing and Whitestone within the last few weeks. That's in addition to the other clinics that have been created within the past year or two.

"The establishment of new urgent-care centers is not intended to replace hospital emergency departments," said state Health Department spokesman Jeffrey Hammond in a statement. "Rather, they provide an alternative to a closed physician office or inappropriate use of emergency departments."

There is no official count of how many medical centers are in the borough, agency officials said.

But the state has awarded almost $50 million to Queens hospitals and health care institutions since the closure of St. John's Queens Hospital, in Elmhurst, and Mary Immaculate Hospital, in Jamaica, in March 2009.

North Shore received a $5.3million grant from the state to open its urgent care center in the former St. John's primary clinic on Queens Blvd.

WAIT!!! We have good news to report. Right outside St. John's, we may see a shiny new bike lane along Queens Blvd. Isn't that what's most important to us all?

Hospital closure bill passes

From the Times Ledger:

The closings of St. John’s and Mary Immaculate hospitals inspired a bill passed by the state Legislature last week that would require the state to hold a hearing about plans to shutter hospitals and issue plans for filling the gap in health care services in affected communities.

Sponsored by Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows) and Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica), the state Legislature unanimously passed the Hospital Closure Planning Act last week. Lawmakers will send it to Gov. David Paterson’s desk within the next several weeks, after which he will have 10 days to decide whether or not to sign the bill that borough lawmakers said addresses a need to give the public more of a voice about hospitals slated to be shuttered.

Lancman and Huntley have criticized the state DOH for its response to the closure of St. John’s and Mary Immaculate and said this act will help lay the groundwork for a comprehensive plan to meet New York’s health care needs. The bill would require the state DOH to hold a public forum within 30 days of a hospital closure and issue a plan for addressing the consequence of the loss of health care services.

Paterson had vetoed the Hospital Closure Planning Act in September 2009, but lawmakers said they revamped the bill to address his concerns, including decreasing the number of hearings from two to one.

Borough hospitals still overwhelmed

From NY1:

Health care officials in Queens say the ripple effects of last year's hospital closures have presented new challenges, especially when it comes to emergency care.

From NY1:

Jamaica Hospital, located in southern Queens a mile away from the closed Mary Immaculate Hospital, is dealing with a steady increase of patients in its emergency room, trauma center and psychiatric emergency room.

From NY1:

Elmhurst Hospital is almost filled to capacity these days, and local officials hope the recently-closed St. John's Queens Hospital and Mary Immaculate Hospital can be used once again to provide Queens with much-needed hospital beds.

From NY1:

While the state gave $40 million to Queens's remaining hospitals for new facilities last year, local medical officials still say the state needs to invest more money in the borough's health care infrastructure.

Developer receptive to health care at former hospitals

From the Daily News:

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Carla Craig denied the request filed this week on behalf of the Village Management Group, the runner-up in the Oct. 16 auction for St. John's Hospital in Elmhurst and Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica.

Village Management had said it hoped to place health care facilities at the sites. It also charged the bidding process was unfair.

The court's decision was a disappointment for Borough President Helen Marshall and others who say Queens desperately needs more medical centers. Guttman had originally ruled out using the buildings for health care, but seemed to leave the door open in a statement Wednesday.

"We are satisfied with the court's ruling and excited to begin the process necessary to put these properties back in use," said Guttman, president of Pearl Realty. "We have spoken to the borough president and are ready to work with the community to explore development opportunities that will make sense for Queens."

Hope for health care at hospital sites

From the Daily News:

A developer who wants to place health care facilities at the shuttered Mary Immaculate and St. John's Hospitals is asking a federal bankruptcy court judge to reopen the auction for those buildings.

The Village Management Group filed court papers Tuesday saying the bidding process was unfair.

They also presented a letter from New York Hospital Queens officials saying they would consider working with Village Management on a facility at the St. John's site.

Controversial developer Joshua Guttman made the highest bid at an Oct. 16 auction, promising $26.6 million for both properties.

Village Management noted it was the winning bidder for the Mary Immaculate site in Jamaica. But its bid for St. John's in Elmhurst was eclipsed by Guttman's.

Guttman has said the sites would likely be used for office space, educational or religious organizations, but not health care.

Borough President Helen Marshall and others have been lobbying to keep some sort of medical use in those locations, noting that Queens is woefully underserved.

In court papers, Village Management said it spoke with Guttman during a break in the auction and even had a handshake agreement to bid as a team.

Hospitals' sale to Guttman on hold

From the Daily News:

The sale of two shuttered Queens hospitals to a controversial developer has been temporarily blocked.

The state Dormitory Authority asked a federal bankruptcy court judge on Friday to hold off on approving the sale of St. John's Hospital and Mary Immaculate Hospital to an investment group headed by Joshua Guttman.

The authority, which is owed more than $62 million by bankrupt hospital owner Caritas Health Care, wants the court to consider reopening the auction. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for tomorrow.

Guttman made the highest bid at an Oct. 16 auction, promising $26.6 million for both properties.

The Dormitory Authority filed the motion after Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and others made a personal appeal to Gov. Paterson at a Queens County Democratic Party dinner Thursday night.

3 hospitals have no hope for revival

From The Real Deal:

Brooklyn-based developer and investment group Guttman Realty made the winning bid for the auction of two bankrupt Caritas Healthcare properties, with the aggregate purchase price coming in at $26.63 million.

The buyer has not settled on an official use for the two properties, but is considering transforming the Mary Immaculate site for educational, religious, non-profit or governmental use, and using the St. John's site as an office building.

From the Daily News:

Guttman gained notoriety when one of his properties, the Greenpoint Terminal Market, was the scene of a 10-alarm fire in 2006. He and his partners were charged with hundreds of counts of environmental crimes - one for each day they were in violation - for failing to maintain the site prior to the fire.

And from the Queens Courier:

A mandatory injunction to reopen The New Parkway Hospital was denied in U.S. Federal Court on Tuesday, October 20.

“We were very disappointed at the end decision,” said Dr. Robert Aquino, owner/CEO.

At the hearing, former Assemblymember Anthony Seminerio – who pleaded guilty to one count of honest services mail fraud and vacated his seat after a Manhattan grand jury indicted him for receiving approximately $1 million from hospitals and related entities – had been subpoenaed to testify, but the judge deemed it unnecessary.

Hospitals sold to realtor for cheap

From the Queens Courier:

At an auction on Friday, October 16, both St. John’s Queens and Mary Immaculate Hospitals – shuttered earlier this year – were sold to the highest bidder.

According to Dan Andrews, spokesperson for Borough President Helen Marshall, the properties, formerly owned by Caritas, were bought by Brooklyn-based Guttman Realty for a total price of $26.625 million.

A Bankruptcy Court hearing is set for Thursday, October 22 to approve the transaction, though a manager who answered the phone at Guttman Realty told The Courier she had no knowledge of the sale.

Photo from the Daily News

Caritas hospitals up for auction 10/16

Photo by Pat Cotillo, Jr.

Crain's reports that Mary Immaculate and St. John's Queens Hospital will be offered at auction October 16:

Each site will be auctioned separately. The starting bid for St. John's and Mary Immaculate is $13.5 million and $4.35 million, respectively.

Both sites are zoned for residential and/or commercial use. The successful bidder of the properties will be able to do what they want with the properties as long as it is within zoning rules.

CUNY's Interactive Journalism blog takes one last look inside Mary Immaculate:

If you look past the piles of garbage, the torn window shades, and the broken furniture, it’s easy to imagine the millions of patients this hospital has treated over the decades, and the old nuns and priests roaming the halls. As we walked down the hallway to the hospital’s chapel, Ed paused to point out the rings of rust on the cream-colored walls. That’s where I hung the old historical photos, he said, shaking his head.

Many civic leaders I’ve spoken to point out that the hospital sits on the most prime real estate in Jamaica—overlooking the sprawling green lawns of Rufus King Park. They think it’s going to be turned into luxury apartments.

And I get the same impression.

Board recommends reactivating closed hospitals to handle swine flu

From the Times Newsweekly:

Spurred by fears that the H1N1 (swine) flu pandemic could hit Queens hard in the weeks and months to come, the Queens Borough Board and Cabinet recommended this week that the city reopen three closed hospitals in the event of a widespread outbreak to help treat the sick.

The Queens Borough Board— comprised of the chairpersons of all 14 community boards—adopted at its Sept. 21 meeting a joint resolution from the Health and Human Services committees of Community Boards 4 and 5 calling for the reactivation of St. John’s, Mary Immaculate and Parkway hospitals should the borough’s nine other medical centers become swamped with flu patients.

Members of the Queens Borough Cabinet—which includes the district managers of each board—approved the recommendation during their meeting at Queens Borough Hall the following day, Tuesday, Sept. 22, according to Board 5 District Manager Gary Giordano.

Under the terms of the committees’ resolution, the city was asked to formulate a short-term plan to reactivate St. John’s, Mary Immaculate and Parkway hospitals in the event the influenza epidemic reaches “crisis” proportions.

NYSDOH: Queens short of hospital beds before 3 hospitals closed

"The New York State Department of Health has prepared a report that has the conclusion that all considered obvious: Queens County did not have a sufficient number of beds before Parkway and the Caritas hospitals closed and Queens County is in urgent need of additional beds as soon as possible.

The report notes that Queens currently has 27% of New York City’s population. Its population density is greatest in the area of Elmhurst-Astoria, extending east toward Flushing and southeast toward Jamaica. The population is expected to increase by 4-8% over the next decade.

In 2007, before the closing of the three hospitals in Queens (Parkway, St. John’s and Mary Immaculate), there were 193 licensed beds per 100,000 population, compared to 251 per 100,000 population in Brooklyn. Applying age-specific ’04-’06 admission rates the NYS Department of Health estimates that the number of inpatient admissions by Queens residents will increase by at least 3% to as great as 10% by the year 2015, a mere six years away. One must bear in mind, that if plans were implemented to erect a new hospital today, it would still take a minimum of five years from today to build a single hospital at a cost of more than 1.2 million dollars per bed.

During the period 2006-2008, emergency room visits grew by 6%, admissions by 14%, and the admission rate by 8%.

The report notes that Parkway and the Caritas hospitals that have closed served about 8% of Queens medical-surgical patients in 2007. The Department of Health says that these closings require a “restructuring” of the healthcare system in the borough to “accommodate” the patients who would have used these facilities.

In the end, the Department of Health concludes that there is a need for an additional 535-835 inpatient beds in Queens by 2015, beyond those remaining after the hospital closings. Even if recommendations for reducing average length of stay and reducing preventable hospitalizations were implemented and realized, 210 to 510 new beds would still be needed. There are 160 new beds anticipated in previously planned expansions, which may or may not occur in the current fiscal climate. Thus, under the most optimistic outlook, Queens would remain short of 50-350 beds necessary to meet the 2015 projections. This shortage of beds is remedied by the reopening of Parkway’s 251 beds.

This report only goes only to 2008 and It is clear the patients that are admitted are sicker, there are increasing admissions, but the report fails to take into account that where are the over 18,000 admissions from St. John's, Mary Immaculate and Parkway. Where are they going and where are they now? And, ask what is happening with the doctors in practice; how are they being effected, with sicker patients, more admissions, less access to care.

And, none of this addresses the criminal fraud of disgraced Assemblyman Anthony Seminario, Medisys CEO David Rosen (Jamaica Hospital-who bribed Seminario), members of the DOH who acted with Seminario and Rosen, the Berger Commission numbers; to drive Parkway out of business, close hospitals, put the health and well being of Queens citizens at risk. All of this combined with the statistical analysis is shocking to the conscious of the good people of the State of New York. Where is DOH? One must ask, "How has the DOH done their health care planning models for the last years"? Why does DOH remain absent and in hiding? What guilt do they hold?

Read the DOH's own admission of guilt at their own link." - anonymous