Parkway Hospital redevelopment approved by CB6

From the Forest Hills Post:

Community Board 6 resoundingly voted to approve plans for a major residential redevelopment of Forest Hill’s abandoned Parkway Hospital.

The board voted 33 to 1 at Wednesday’s meeting in favor of the plan, which includes the construction of a 14-story building at the 70-35 113th St. complex, and the addition of two floors to the existing 6-story hospital building on site. A total of 351 apartments are slated for the project.

The developers, Jasper Venture Group LLC and Auberge Grand Central LLC, had filed an application in September to rezone the property and allow for their towers, taller and denser than allowed under current zoning, to be built. Their application also sought to designate the property under a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) zone, the first in the area.

The proposed plan would turn the existing hospital building, with its two additional floors, into a residential tower with 135 affordable units, with 68 of these apartments for seniors. A 4,000 square foot community facility is also planned for the building, which is likely to be taken up by a medical service provider.

The 14-story tower, meanwhile, would be built in the vacant parking lot of the former hospital and house 216 market-rate units. The majority of the apartments here are studios and one-bedrooms, with 44 two-bedroom units.

Parkway Hospital rezoning underway

From Crains:

A rezoning application to convert the former Parkway Hospital in Queens into 351 units of affordable and market-rate housing entered the public review process Monday.

The Manhattan-based Jasper Venture Group is seeking city approval to add two stories to the former medical facility, which was forced to close after losing a court case a decade ago. The revamped building would have about 135 units of affordable housing, according to application documents, and some of them would be set aside for seniors. In addition, the developer seeks permission to construct a 14-story rental building with about 216 market-rate apartments elsewhere on the site, which abuts both 113th Street and a Grand Central Parkway service road between 70th Road and 71st Avenue in Forest Hills.

The application ends years of intrigue about what would become of the property.

New plan for old Parkway Hospital

From DNA Info:

Developer Jasper Venture Group LLC, in partnership with Auberge Grand Central LLC, purchased the hospital's mortgages for about $6.5 million in 2012 and two years later snatched up the site with a $1 million bid during a foreclosure auction, according to published reports. Now developers plan to renovate it into affordable housing for seniors.

Builders plan to gut the original six-story hospital building, which features two basement levels, and turn it into 70 apartments for seniors, according to Michael Cohen, a spokesman for Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz. The company would also build an additional three floors atop the building to include 27 market-rate units.

The owners are also planning a 12-story tower in the parking area between the former hospital and the Grand Central Parkway that would feature 200 market-rate apartments, Cohen said.

According to DEC, the soil has "low concentrations (ppb) [parts per billion] of petroleum compounds in groundwater on the site."

"DEC is planning to request that the applicant gather more data to determine if remediation is necessary to protect the public and the environment," Kevin Frazier, a spokesman for DEC said in an email Monday.

The application, according to DEC, is currently “undergoing a 30 day public comment period.”

Comments are closed December 30. Info is here, site code is C241193

Parkway Hospital is open and unguarded

From DNA Info:

A long-vacant hospital building which sits near one of the most coveted elementary schools in Forest Hills poses a potential danger to local children, some parents said.

The former Parkway Hospital, at 70-35 113th St., has been an empty eyesore with its windows boarded up since it closed in 2008.

The building is usually covered with graffiti, people are able to go in and out, and, on Oct. 20, a suspicious fire broke out inside, parents said.

Since the hospital closed, the property has been in and out of auction. Last year, Jasper Venture Group, a New York-based real estate investment firm, which holds the mortgage on the building, said that it was considering replacing the former medical facility with a residential tower. But earlier this year, the company announced that the property was up for sale again.

Local parents and elected officials were hoping to convert the building into a school to alleviate overcrowding in the area, but the Department of Education didn't find the proposal feasible.

DOE doesn't want Parkway Hospital for a school

From DNA Info:

Plans to convert the former Parkway Hospital into a school to ease overcrowding have been rejected by the Department of Education.

The idea was first suggested by parents during a School District 28 Community Education Council meeting in May at which they met with city officials to discuss overcrowding in the neighborhood.

Several local elected officials, including Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, expressed support for the school idea, but the DOE said last week that the agency had checked the site and had decided not to pursue the conversion.

Queens Trib advertises illegal conversions (aka How Not to Publish a News Website)

From the Queens Tribune:

Featured Ridgewood Listings:

64-05 Gates Avenue
A two-story, multi-family home with five bedrooms and two bathrooms, this pre-war brick building just hit the market within the past three weeks. There’s approximately 3,300 square feet of living space in the Colonial-style home, a patio, 11 total rooms, hardwood floors, a full basement with a separate entrance, and a private driveway and garage.

Multi-family? Don't think so. It's a legal 2-family. "full basement with separate entrance" - We know what that means. The Trulia listing features a photo of a garage containing a confederate flag. Classy.

17-43 Grove Street
A two-family home, which has been converted into a three-family, income-generating building, this property could be a steal. It’s been on the market for nearly five months, possibly because it needs a fair share of work done on it. A buyer with the means though might want to take advantage of its availability. The property is on a beautiful, tree-lined street close to mass transit, and has a spacious backyard.

A 2 family home that was converted into a 3? Not legally. Not even a permit filed. Trulia calls it "Beautiful two family home set up like a three family."

The photo accompanying the article really takes the cake. (And I doubt it was an April Fool's joke.)

Parkway Hospital building gets a polish

"Hey, love your website, keep up the good work! . I just saw your post about Parkway Hospital in law and order. I own a cleaning company Hudson Power Washing that just removed all the graffiti off the back of the building a couple of weeks ago. It looks pretty amazing compared to what it used to look like. Hopefully it stays like that for a while."

-Nick.

Parkway Hospital is now a famous TV location

"Did you happen to notice the veiled reference to Parkway Hospital on Law & Order SVU? The 2/18 episode had to do with sex trafficking and trying to find a girl a pimp was hiding in his secret torture lair.

I couldn't help but laugh when the location was revealed on screen as "Basement of abandoned hospital, 70-33 113th St, Forest Hills, Queens"

Andy

Parkway sold for $1M at auction

From the Times Ledger:

A Rego Park-based realty company seized the shuttered Parkway Hospital property with a $1 million bid during a foreclosure auction in Queens Civil Court last Friday.

The same firm, Auberge Grand Central Limited Liability Company, purchased the defunct hospital’s mortgages for $6.5 million in 2012 and then had a firm assess the 56,400-square-foot lot’s market rate at $6 million, court documents show.

After emerging from a brief bidding war, a representative from Auberge Grand Central said he was contractually prevented from discussing plans for the property.

The firm previously said it wanted to transform the six-story building into condominiums through a partnership with Jasper Venture Group LLC.

Parkway back on the block

From the Times Ledger:

The former Parkway Hospital property is heading back to the auction block.

The mortgage on the 56,400-square-foot lot in Forest Hills is scheduled to be offered up to bidders at a July 11 foreclosure auction in Queens Supreme Civil Court, according to the real estate website propertyshark.com.

The company that entered the winning $22.2 million bid during a January auction struggled to come up with the financing for months. As a result, the closing date for the 70-35 113th St. lot was rescheduled several times.

The group behind the bid, 70-35 113th St. Limited Liability Co., could not be reached for comment. Its officers have not been identified.

The company that holds the mortgage on the shuttered hospital, Auberge Grand Central LLC, had discussed transforming it into condominiums via a partnership with the Manhattan-based real estate firm Jasper Venture Group LLC.

It was unclear whether the partnership intends to bid at the upcoming auction.

Jasper Venture Group referred requests for comment to Auberge Grand Central, which did not respond to inquiries before deadline.

The court-appointed foreclosure referee Joseph Risi previously said Auberge Grand Central would need to go back to court and get a stay before formally pursuing development plans.

Risi did not respond to requests for comment.

So much for the condos.

Condos coming to Parkway Hospital site

From Brownstoner Queens:

The Parkway Hospital, vacant and in disrepair since 2008, is going condo. Real estate investment firm Jasper Venture Group of New York released a press release on its plans for the Forest Hills site. It looks like a demolition is coming: “Though the hospital is over 100,000 square feet, Jasper wants to increase its size. Rebuilding condominiums from the ground up will breathe new life into the idle site.” Jasper has not yet released any information on the design or the timeframe for construction.

Parkway going back to auction

From the Times Ledger:

The former Parkway Hospital property appears to be bound for another auction.

A limited liability company that staked out the 70-35 113th St. property with a $22 million bid during a Jan. 10 foreclosure auction opted not to move forward with the sale, according to Joseph Risi, the referee assigned to the foreclosure case.

Risi said 70-35 113th Street Holdings LLC paid the required 10 percent down payment, but never handed over the remainder of the bid.

Auberge Grand Central LLC, which holds the mortgage on the Forest Hills property, granted the LLC more time to complete the sale after the 30-day window for closing passed.

Risi said the 56,400-square-foot lot would likely be put up for auction again while the court decided where the $2.2 million deposit should be directed.

As of Wednesday, 70-35 113th Street Holdings was not registered with the state. The potential new owners never disclosed their identities publicly.

City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills) said she tried to organize two meetings with the LLC to discuss its plans for the property. She said the company’s representatives asked to reschedule the first meeting and showed up an hour and a half late to the second.

“I had to leave, so I didn’t sit down with them,” said Koslowitz, who declined to disclose the representatives’ identities because she was unsure if they would assume ownership of Parkway. “I want to know what’s going to be there because right now the building is an eyesore.”

Parkway in decay

From DNA Info:

Since Parkway Hospital closed nearly six years ago, it has fallen into a state of disrepair, with boarded up windows on the ground floor and walls tagged with graffiti.

Last June, it was supposed to be auctioned off through Queens Supreme Court, but the listing was removed shortly before the property was set to go under the gavel.

And there appears to be no end in sight for the woes of the dilapidated building, which has sat vacant since closing in November 2008.

“It’s disgusting,” said local Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz of the structure at 70-35 113th St., near P.S. 196.

Koslowitz said she has been trying to contact the owners for months, but was not able to reach them.

According to the Department of Finance, the 70,000-square-foot property, built in 1963, belongs to Parkway Hospital Associates. It has an outstanding lien of nearly $15 million, according to published reports and filed for bankruptcy in 2005.

After learning that the hospital was to be closed in 2008, the owners sued various state agencies in state and federal court, alleging that it was not given a chance to be heard prior to the revocation of its operating certificate. The status of the lawsuits was not immediately clear.

The last work permits were filed in 2009, data provided by the Department of Buildings indicate.

(St. John's and Mary Immaculate Hospitals are also empty and in shoddy shape.)

Parkway Hospital looks like hell

"NYS Pavilion is in ruins, Civic Virtue is exiled, legal graffiti at 5 Pointz is gone, and a bear is humping a man at Socrates Sculpture Park. But here's some abstract expressionism I spotted earlier today at the Parkway Hospital site.

See, there's still art in Queens to be found."

- anonymous

Parkway Hospital for sale

From The Real Deal:

A Queens building which housed the defunct Parkway Hospital is set to hit the foreclosure auction block next month with an outstanding lien of $14.86 million, according to data from PropertyShark.

The 70,000-square-foot property, at 70-35 113th Street in Forest Hills, was home to the city’s only privately owned hospital until 2008, when the New York State Commission of Healthcare Facilities mandated its closure. The building has been vacant since.

The property, which sits on a 56,000-square-foot lot, has limited possibilities for adaptive reuse, it was previously reported. The court-appointed receiver of the mortgage speculated in 2009 that the property might be turned into a detention center or correctional facility, sparking concerns among local residents. But no official plans were ever filed. The building could also be reborn as a medical facility.

The auction is slated to take place June 28 at the Queens Supreme Court building at 88-11 Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica.

Gloria D'Amico Hospital on hold

From the Queens Chronicle:

The effort to reopen the old Parkway Hospital property has stalled at administrative levels while supporters of the plan are trying to move it along in the courts.

The state ordered the hospital closed in 2008. It also was connected to an alleged bribery scandal that has five people, including a state senator and an assemblyman from Brooklyn, facing federal criminal charges.

Also preparing to stand trial is Dr. Robert Aquino, who formerly ran the hospital.

John Krall of Queens is heading the effort to reopen the building as the Gloria D’Amico Medical Center, named for the late Queens County clerk.

But the state said this week that the group, Parkview, has not filed the necessary paperwork for review.

“In discussions for any reopening, the applicants must go through a certificate of need process,” said Peter Costantakes, a spokesman for the state Department of Health. “That applies to every hospital, every nursing home, and other facilities.”

Costantakes said the process allows the state to review the integrity of the applicants, their financing and other things to prove the proposal is feasible, They also must demonstrate a need within the community.

“Parkview is seeking to use a license that has expired,” he said. “They want to reopen under different leadership but haven’t done anything for a new application.”

Krall said the former license should have been considered suspended based on a state report which recommended keeping the hospital open — and the fact that Aquino has severed all ties to the operation and the property.

“He is gone,” Krall said. “We have private financing, and we are not asking for city, state or federal money.”

Beware the hospital administrators

From Forest Hills Patch:

In the midst of a push to reopen Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills, the former top executive at the hospital was arrested on Thursday, caught up in a bribery sting involving state Sen. Carl Kruger, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Dr. Robert Aquino, who spent years fighting to keep Parkway Hospital from closing, and since its closure, fighting to reopen it, was arrested and charged with bribing the state senator in 2008.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, after the arrests were announced, expressed anger and consternation at the sheer number of state officials who have been tied up in bribery and corruption incidents.

In the complaint, Aquino is alleged to have paid $60,000 to one of a pair of shell companies set up by Kruger, in exchange for his help in 2008 lobbying to allow then-open Parkway Hospital to purchase to other Queens medical centers.

The plan, though widely publicized at the time, never came to fruition. Since the hospital's closure, Aquino has been aggressive in trying to reopen the facility, including writing a letter to Gov. David Paterson during the last month of his term to convince him to restore the hospital's operating certificate.

From the NY Times:

Starting in 2006, Mr. Rosen fought to block Wyckoff Heights Medical Center from buying two Catholic hospitals in Queens, Mary Immaculate and St. John’s. He feared that a takeover, which required state approval, would make Mary Immaculate a stronger competitor and would put nearby Jamaica Hospital out of business.

Medisys then tried to acquire the Catholic hospitals to keep them out of Wyckoff’s hands. Parkway Hospital also tried to buy them, and Mr. Seminerio and Mr. Kruger became involved in the dispute. Eventually, the two Catholic hospitals closed.

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.

Push to reopen Parkway Hospital

From the Times Ledger:

Robert Aquino, the former chief executive officer of the now-defunct Parkway Hospital, sent a letter last week to the state health commissioner in an effort to pressure the state to reopen the Forest Hills medical center, which he said would strengthen health care in a borough hit hard by the closure of three major hospitals and add more than 1,000 jobs.

“We felt that before Gov. David Paterson leaves, he could do something to help Queens,” Aquino said in an interview. “We’re following the emergency room times in Queens, and they’re getting worse and worse and worse. Maybe Gov. Paterson could in the 11th hour call the commissioner and say there is a disaster in Queens and we need to do something about it.”

Aquino said he sent the Dec. 3 letter to Health Commissioner Richard Daines because he worried that if state officials did not act to reopen Parkway now, it would be months before Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo would have the time to address the issue.

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?