A development group has filed a request to reopen bidding on two shuttered Queens hospitals, citing an unfair bidding process in the last auction. Village Management Group asked a federal bankruptcy court yesterday to allow it a shot at the St. John’s Hospital and Mary Immaculate Hospital properties, located in Elmhurst and Jamaica, respectively, which CB Richard Ellis auctioned last month. The winning bidder, Guttman Realty, which spent a total of $26.63 million on the two properties, was announced Oct. 20. Residents and local officials, including Helen Marshall, the Queens borough president, have expressed concern over Guttman’s intention to transform the properties into non-medical facilities. Village Management Group says that it has been in talks with New York Hospital Queens officials to reopen the St. John’s property as a medical center.

Brooklyn-based developer and investment group Guttman Realty made the winning bid for the auction of two bankrupt Caritas Healthcare properties, with the aggregate purchase price coming in at $26.63 million. CB Richard Ellis announced the winning bid today for the two former hospital sites in Queens: the four-acre Mary Immaculate Hospital campus in Jamaica and the two-acre St. John’s Queens Hospital property in Elmhurst. The buyer has not settled on an official use for the two properties, but is considering transforming the Mary Immaculate site for educational, religious, non-profit or governmental use, and using the St. John’s site as an office building. Larry Weiss, a CBRE vice president, which represented the seller in the auction, said his firm was happy with the auction’s outcome. TRD [more]