Former Queens hospital will be auctioned off

A Queens building which housed the defunct Parkway Hospital is set to hit the foreclosure auction block next month with an outstanding lien of $14.86 million, according to data from PropertyShark.

The 70,000-square-foot property, at 70-35 113th Street in Forest Hills, was home to the city’s only privately owned hospital until 2008, when the New York State Commission on Healthcare Facilities mandated its closure. The building has been vacant since.

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 it cost him. Creditors began pursuing Aquino for unpaid debts at the building in 2008. A foreclosure judgment was issued against the property May 6.

Aquino pleaded guilty last year to bribing former state Senator Carl Kruger to try to keep the hospital open and was sentenced to four months in prison last May. He could not be reached for comment.

The property, which sits on a 56,000-square-foot lot, has limited possibilities for adaptive reuse, it was previously reported. The court-appointed receiver of the mortgage speculated in 2009 that the property might be turned into a detention center or correctional facility, sparking concerns among local residents. But no official plans were ever filed. The building could also be reborn as a medical facility.

The auction is slated to take place June 28 at the Queens Supreme Court building at 88-11 Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica.

An attorney for the creditor, Auberge Grand Central LLC, was not immediately available for comment.