Forest Hills’ former Parkway Hospital may soon return to the auction block now that the previous successful bidder has fallen behind on payments.
An LLC named after the 70-35 113th Street site won out in a January foreclosure sale with a $22 million bid, and paid the obligatory 10 percent down at the time, Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz’ office told DNAinfo. But according to a spokesperson for Koslowitz, the company has since missed deadlines to pay the remainder of the balance on Feb. 10 and March 10 — despite an extended closing date.
A court-appointed mediator, Joseph Risi, is mulling a possible return of the property to auction if the firm isn’t able to go come through with the necessary funds, the councilwoman told DNAinfo. Risi was not immediately available for comment to the news site, and representatives of 70-35 113th Street Holdings LLC could not be reached for comment.
The 70,000-square-foot property was home to the city’s only privately-owned hospital until 2008, when the New York State Commission on Healthcare Facilities mandated its closure. After spending millions of dollars fighting the mandate in court, the hospital’s owner, Robert Aquino, lost the battle to keep the hospital open, and creditors began pursuing Aquino for unpaid debts at the building in 2008. The property has since sat vacant and fallen into disrepair, and a foreclosure judgment was issued against the property in May of 2013. The defunct facility hit the foreclosure auction block in June 2013 with an outstanding lien of $14.86 million, as The Real Deal previously reported. [DNAinfo] — Julie Strickland