New Wing Opens at Leading Hospital in Queens

New York Hospital Queens completes construction of seven-floor, 80-bed facility on main campus increasing access to high-demand patient care services

FLUSHING, N.Y., June 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, hundreds of employees and volunteers, medical staff, administrators and trustees of New York Hospital Queens, along with numerous community leaders, marked the completion of the hospital's new wing with a ceremonial ribbon cutting, and proclamations from state and city elected officials.  The new seven-floor facility, known as the "West Wing," has 190,000 square feet, and adds 80 certified patient beds, bringing the hospital's total to 519.  This construction, plus a three level parking facility, was completed in 40 months.  The total cost of the project was approximately $210 million.  

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100617/DC23129)

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100617/DC23129)

"This is a time of extraordinary challenge for every hospital in the country. It took a great deal of support and perseverance to bring this facility to completion in the midst of a serious recession and the unknowns of health care reform," said Stephen S. Mills, president and chief executive officer.  "Right here in Queens we saw several institutions close while our expansion project was underway.  This drove us to create an environment where our community can be confident they will have access to trusted expertise, advanced technology, and a level of quality and service that will help them heal close to home," he added.

Features of the new wing include medical/surgical units with private and semi-private rooms, and the centralization of the hospital's high demand cardiovascular and orthopedic services.  To increase patient access and convenience, the ground floor includes a new ambulatory surgery center with 10 new operating rooms and 33 recovery beds.  The expansion also increases hospital's overall capacity to perform surgical and interventional procedures with a unique hybrid operating suite for endovascular and interventional radiology procedures that can be converted to perform vascular procedures in the same room, whenever the need arises.

The wing includes a number of amenities designed to ease access for patients and families. A spectacular four-lane drop off and entryway is located on Main Street, near the corner of Booth Memorial Avenue.  A new lobby welcomes visitors with messages in the languages used most in the diverse neighborhoods of Queens County.

"People in Queens deserve the best healthcare available anywhere, and our medical staff and employees have worked very hard to have NYHQ be the hospital of choice for physicians and patients in this community," said Mills.  "This new facility and everything we have invested in it gives us an opportunity to increase the number of people we can care for – safely, conveniently, and close to where they live or work," he added.

New York Hospital Queens is a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System and an affiliate of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. 

Financing

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was the primary funding source for the project. The Hospital's first FHA-insured loan was done in 1978.  Since then, HUD has insured two additional mortgage loans for the Hospital, a $60 million loan in 1999 to finance the East Wing, and the $175 million loan in 2007 that funded a new parking facility and the West Wing.  "Working with the personnel at HUD's Office of Health Care Programs and Office of Architecture and Engineering, we developed an extraordinary project," said Mary Gavin, Vice President of Tyll & LaVigne, which is the hospital's FHA banker.  "Without the HUD mortgage insurance, the loans would have been far more costly for the Hospital, and we probably would have had to limit the scope of the projects--but because the HUD mortgage insurance program was available to us, we are able to provide more for the Queens community," she added.

Architecture and Design

NYHQ selected Perkins Eastman for the project.  Perkins Eastman is among the top architecture and design firms in the world. The firm prides itself on inventive and compassionate design that enhances the quality of the human experience and enriches whole communities. According to Frank Gunther AIA, Principal-in-Charge at Perkins Eastman, "The completion of the West Wing at New York Hospital Queens is the culmination of five years of collaboration between a visionary client and a committed design team. The state-of-the-art facility creates a new public face for the hospital that truly reflects the high level of care within it."

"The design of the new West Wing at New York Hospital Queens combines the latest in medical technology with a holistic approach to healing. Patients and visitors will feel embraced upon arrival, and will experience an unparallel quality of care in spaces that are light-filled and soothing," Gunther added.

Construction

Barr & Barr has served as the construction manager for the project.  According to John Decina, CEO of Barr & Barr, Inc., the building plan had a number of complex elements. In order to build the new wing an existing parking structure on Main Street needed to be demolished. To accommodate the cars displaced by this demolition, a new parking garage needed to be constructed on a separate site on Booth Memorial Avenue. "Since this parking facility is in the midst of the community and surrounded by private homes, the challenge was to try to maintain a minimally invasive environment for neighbors. When the parking facility was completed, Barr & Barr received compliments from the community on how smooth the construction went," Decina said.

Early visionary thinking by NYHQ enabled the new hospital wing to be designed with the structural capacity to support additional floors. As the project proceeded, the decision was made to add two floors to the original plan.  These will remain as vacant space and may be eventually be fitted out to further improve and modernize the hospital.

Barr & Barr believes that building relationships is as important as building quality projects, with a track record of over 85% repeat clients, Barr & Barr, specializes in both and has developed a reputation for personalized service, which is the cornerstone of their business philosophy. Barr & Barr is proud to have served as Construction Manager on this important project for NYHQ and the Queens community served by the hospital.

Note to editors, detailed information on the new facility, as well as photography from each stage of construction is available via the media contacts listed on this news release and on nyhq.org.

SOURCE New York Hospital Queens

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED