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A bankruptcy court judge delayed signing off on the $26.6 million bid until earlier this week — fueling hope that the shuttered facilities could be reopened.
The Village Management Group decried last month’s auction of the buildings to Guttman, claiming the process was unfair in court documents filed before the judge last week.
According to published reports, the company claimed to be in talks with New York Hospital Queens to reopen the St. John’s site in Elmhurst.
“Since New York Hospital had gone into a working relationship with Village, we thought they might consider going into one with Guttman,” Andrews said. “We’re trying to set up a meeting.”
The former sites of St. John’s and Mary Immaculate, located in Jamaica, were sold to Guttman in an auction on Oct. 16.
Guttman drew heat in 2006 after he was accused of failing to maintain the Greenpoint Terminal Market in Brooklyn before the building was consumed in a 10-alarm fire.
In a statement released after the sale of the buildings, auctioneer CB Richard Ellis announced that Guttman was exploring options for placing commercial and government offices at the two hospital buildings.
But a public backlash and a contentious court battle may have softened the developer’s initial stance. Now Marshall and others hope they can mediate a deal that will bring new health services to the area.
The potential loss of the two buildings as medical facilities has sent local leaders scrambling in recent weeks as they seek short-term options to alleviate the Queens hospital crunch.
“It’ll take some of the burden off local emergency rooms,” Andrews said. “There’s no obligation to build a hospital, so we have to tread easily and advocate and suggest and cajole and hope that someone is listening. So far he’s listening.”
Marshall commissioned a study in 2006, before the closings, which warned of an impending healthcare crisis in the borough. The report found that Queens had only 1.4 hospital beds per 1,000 residents. By comparison, Manhattan boasted nearly 7.1 beds per 1,000 residents.
“It’s a short-term solution,” Andrews later conceded on the possibility of an ambulatory care center at one of the sites.
The hospital buildings were auctioned as part of Caritas’ bankruptcy proceedings.
Caritas filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Feb. 6, forcing it to close the hospitals just a few weeks later.
The announcement came after failed attempts to secure public funding for continued operations. An affiliate of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, Caritas took over the two hospitals from St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers in 2007. St. Vincent’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the hospitals in 2005 amid rising debt.
Andrews hopes productive discussions between Guttman and other hospitals can be arranged in the coming weeks.
