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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.
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.
From the
Queens Chronicle:
Mt. Sinai Hospital will double its capacity and more than triple its emergency room space, if a proposed expansion comes to fruition.
Administrators at the Astoria medical center, located on 30th Avenue, hope to build a nine-story annex in the empty lot behind the existing facility. With the new tower, the hospital would have 265 beds, up from 192, more than 10,000 square feet of additional ER space, five new operating rooms and an ambulance drop-off.
Caryn Schwab, the hospital’s executive director, said the expansion is badly needed because the borough’s hospitals are stretched too thin.
Money is the sticking point. The annex is expected to cost $200 million, and Schwab said the hospital is $75 million short. Bonds and equity contributions from the main Mt. Sinai hospital in Manhattan are expected to yield $125 million for the project, but the medical center is turning to the state for additional funding. She added that federal stimulus funding can’t be deployed for hospital construction.
If the state doesn’t pony up $75 million, Schwab said the medical center will likely build a smaller annex that can be expanded later. Administrators expect to make construction decisions within the next three to six months.
