ASTORIA — Officials broke ground Monday on a $125 million expansion project of Mount Sinai Queens, which will include a new state-of-the-art ambulatory care and surgical facility at the Astoria hospital.
The project was heralded by hospital staff and elected officials as much-needed for the growing area and for Queens in general, which has seen several of its hospitals shuttered over the last several years.
"Mount Sinai Queens has been a safety net for this community. The next closest hospital is a good three miles away," said executive director Caryn Schwab, who said the expansion will help fill that void for the borough.
"It means patients don't have to cross the bridge to get great care. It means they can stay right here in Queens," she said.
The planned 125,000-square-foot building will house an expanded emergency department with a drive-through bay for ambulances and a new imaging suite, seven new operating rooms, additional laboratory services and a multi-specialty medical outpatient practice offering primary, specialty and urgent care.
"A centerpiece of the new building will be one-stop shopping — that means families can go to one location, often times in one visit, and get all the care they need," Schwab said.
The new facility will be a six-story building at Crescent Street and 30th Avenue, next to the current hospital site.
The expansion of the Queens location is just one facet of Mount Sinai's growth — it merged last month with Continuum Health Partners, now making it the largest hospital network in New York City.
"All over the city people are screaming about hospitals closing...and yet here in Astoria we're growing," State Sen. Michael Gianaris said at Monday's groundbreaking.
Construction of the expansion project is expected to be complete in 2016.
