Paris Hotel expanding

As seen from the Long Island Expressway. An expansion of the Paris Hotel. It doesn't seem like they're gaining all that much rentable space. Kind of surprised this place is still in business but there you go. Draw your own conclusions.

Resorts World about to expand

From 1010WINS:

The Resorts World Casino in Queens has broken ground on a $400-million expansion.

First opened in 2011 in the retrofitted grandstand of Aqueduct Race Track the all-electronic casino already attracts more than 10-million visitors a year. It’s enough success, Casino President Scott Molina said, for the Malaysian conglomerate that owns it to invest another $400-million into it.

The two year project will include a new 400 room, four star hotel, and four new restaurants.

Resorts World plans to expand

From the Wall Street Journal:

Resorts World Casino at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens wants to spend an estimated $400 million to add 1,000 video-lottery terminals and build a new hotel and convention complex.

The proposal includes adding a 400-room hotel, a 20,000-square-foot spa and resort, at least 140,000 square feet of convention and meeting space, plus additional room for food, retail and casino expansion.

The plan, which would expand the Resorts World Casino footprint at Aqueduct by an estimated 750,000 square feet, was outlined June 27 to the New York state Franchise Oversight Board by Resorts World Casino President Ryan Eller.

If all goes to plan, Mr. Eller told the board, the complex would open in April 2019.

The additional video-lottery terminals would come on top of the 5,500 electronic gambling machines of varying types already at Resorts World.

A spokesman for Resorts World said the expansion would be built on the west side of the existing casino, a space now covered by a parking lot.

Queens Museum wonders if people will show up

From the NY Times:

When the Queens Museum of Art announced plans for a renovation in 2006, it joined a building boom in which cultural institutions all over the country were adding wings by name-brand architects, seeking their own Bilbaos. And when the recession of 2008 forced many of those institutions to pull back — worried about whether they needed and could support larger physical plants — the Queens Museum persevered.

The road wasn’t easy; the project was ambitious and took seven years instead of the three originally announced. The budget ballooned to $68 million from $37 million. And though the renovation is now about to be completed — a reopening is planned for early November — the hard part is still ahead: with the new building expected to add $1 million to the $4 million annual operating budget, as well as six new full-time positions, will the institution be able to support this larger operation? And, more basically: now that they’ve built it, will people come?

The building became a museum in 1972, though physically it was never ideal. Its western facade, which faces the Grand Central Parkway, was opaque and forbidding and, over the years, became obscured by plants and fencing. “You couldn’t even see the building,” said Mark Husser, Grimshaw’s principal architect on the project.

When they say "plants" they really mean "trees" - dozens of which were removed for this project. Add these to the ones that will be sacrificed for the USTA expansion, and we've lost a small forest.

Even if people’s ultimate destination is the park, to play soccer, Mr. Finkelpearl said, he hopes they stop at the museum just to use the bathroom or get a drink — and maybe they’ll decide to catch an art exhibition while they’re there. (Suggested admission is $8; $4 for students and older visitors.)

Yes, let's bank on that. And this, my friends, is why the Queens Museum is generally thought of as a joke.

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.

Mt. Sinai of Queens seeks expansion

From the Daily News:

A western Queens hospital expansion is gaining traction in the community as state officials cotinue to mull the proposal.

Mount Sinai Hospital Queens is seeking regulatory approval for a $113 million development that would add 95,000 square feet to its existing facility, state officials said.

The proposal, filed in December, was prompted by a population boom in the area that has put a premium on hospital beds, said hospital spokeswoman Shelly Felder.

“We just need more space. We’re very tight in our emergency room department,” Felder told the Daily News on Monday.

The hospital won’t tap an architect to create renderings until the request is given state approval, she said.

Officials with the state Department of Health is said some of the factors being weighed are financial feasibility and need.