A few weeks back, rat-baiting signs arrived at the long-empty lot at 326 E. 14th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue...
We didn't think too much about it at the time.
Still, we've always wondered, though, why this lot hadn't been snapped up by a developer. So we decided to look up to see who owns this property.
According to public records, the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary (of Mount Sinai) a few doors away has owned the property since 1975.
Facing mounting debt and an aging infrastructure, Mount Sinai Beth Israel officials announced last week that they are closing their facility on First Avenue at East 16th Street in the next four years.
Mount Sinai Health System reportedly plans to replace the existing facility by opening a smaller hospital on 14th Street and Second Avenue "with a full-service emergency department and 70 inpatient beds."
In addition, hospital officials have placed Gilman Hall, an apartment building it uses to house medical residents, up for sale. The 24-story property, at the corner of East 17th Street and First Avenue, could fetch as much as $80 million, per Crain's.
So this is just speculation. Perhaps Mount Sinai will sell off this chunk of real estate to help offset costs of the new facility a few buildings to the west. Or perhaps they will use this space to build a facility. Or maybe they are just rats here and the lot will remain empty.
What about the empty lot at 324 East 11th St ? any info about that ?
ReplyDeleteMichelin-starred restaurant!
ReplyDeleteLuxury ice cream nail salon fro yo bank Duane Reade smoke shop. But nothing for real East Villagers. Wait for it.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing...here's my speculation.
ReplyDeleteEither they will sell this land (currently used as parking for NY Eye & Ear execs during the day), or it will be used as part of the construction of the new ER facility.
Not reported in the press release last week, tenants in the NYEE residents hall on E 13th street (behind the empty lot) are vacating by end of year...could this Be where they will build the new ER facility?
It's not Mount Sinai anymore, it's Mount Gentrify.
ReplyDeleteCondos.
ReplyDeleteMt. Sinai is sanitizing their Beth Israel property of all the problems associated with the sick - poverty, drugs and noise to increase the value of it's land. Then to assuage the state and city they will destroy 13th Street, a residential block and the surrounding neighborhood with a smaller hospital. That's just what we need - junkies, police cars and ambulances all over the Second Ave corridor. For what? just so Mt. Sinai can get a bigger bang for their buildings on 1st Ave. In the '50s there was a catch phrase that fits what's going on today: Urban renewal is Negro removal. It's not strictly anti black anymore... It's been expanded to include... the sick. the poor, the addict and the under represented. Where is Mendez and Maloney in all of this. Are you going to let Mt. Sinai ruin our neighborhood for real estate development. We need help!
ReplyDelete