By Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HELL'S KITCHEN — A long-abandoned hospital is plaguing Hell's Kitchen residents, who say the eyesore has now become a breeding ground for vermin and a serious safety hazard.
St. Vincent's Midtown Hospital, which was once known as St. Clare's, closed its doors in Aug. 2007. Today, the massive complex, which stretches all the way from West 51st Street to West 52nd between Ninth and Tenth avenues stands empty, its doors shuttered and padlocked and its windows boarded up.
For years, the building was used as a squatting site for the homeless, who brazenly set up furniture and washed outdoors. But now that the homeless are out, the vermin appear to be in.
"This is just a mess," said resident Bill Bergman, 29, whose apartment has looked out at the site for the past seven years.
Of particular concern are pools of standing water that have become a breeding ground for mosquitoes, said Steve Belinda, 54, co-chair of the HK5051 Neighborhood Association, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years. He blamed the water on blocked drains, broken pipes and flooding caused by years of disrepair.
"People are very concerned about West Nile virus this spring," he said.
Bergman said the mosquito problem has grown so bad that he's woken up covered in bites. He even scoured his apartment for bed bugs, thinking he might have an infestation.
According to Department of Buildings records, the property is owned by the Chetrit Group and has accumulated numerous violations over the years, including a citation in July 2010 for failing to maintain the building after inspectors found the basement and sub-basement filled with water, which fire officials had to pump.
The property has also logged dozens of 311 complaints over the past year for issues ranging from rats to illegal posters.
"The mosquitoes are just one of many complaints," said Daniel Ryan, 28, who has lived on the block for the past three years. "It's the mosquitoes. It's the trash that accumulates. It's the abandoned shopping carts. It's all of that."
A representative for the Chetrit Group did not respond to numerous requests for comment over the course of several weeks.
Also of concern to locals are wires and gas lines that some fear might ignite.
"The way it is right now it can't be safe for anyone," said Carlos Puche, one of the co-owners of Coco and Toto, a pet store on West 51st Street, who said the block has been shut off "many times" by firefighters responding to incidents at St. Clare's.
Pete Fogel, 52, who has lived on the block for more than 20 years, said the fire department responded at least twice this winter to fires in the building's grates.
But worse, he said, was the snow that piled up in front of the building through the winter, creating a hazardous ice rink.
"You could kill yourself slipping on the ice," he said.
Elected officials, including State Sen. Thomas Duane's office, have been working with residents for more than a year to try to resolve what Duane described as the "deplorable conditions" on the block. But despite a meeting with Chetrit last summer and vows to improve, the Senator said that progress has been nil.
"I am extremely frustrated that, despite our concerted efforts to compel the Chetrit Group, which owns the buildings, to implement suggested remediations, these conditions persist," Sen. Duane said in a statement. "It is long past time the Chetrit Group addressed these egregious quality of life violations that neighborhood residents have had to endure.
But not everyone is calling for change.
"I hope they leave it exactly how it is," said one resident, 43, who lives across the street from St. Clare's and would choose an abandoned building over construction chaos any day.
"When they tear that down to build condos it's going to be noisy and messy."
