Abandoned Kings Park psychiatric facility could find new real estate life

New York legislators passed a measure to add the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center property to the Nissequogue River State Park and require the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to draft a development plan for the 365-acre site, Long Island Business News reported. The former psychiatric center, which closed more than 20 years ago, has long been in the crosshairs of several developers. The property was transferred to the state parks office in 2006 and while some of its brick buildings have already been demolished, many still stand. New York officials have previously tried to sell most of the remaining acreage at Kings Park and get some economic development on its 365 acres. In 2001 and 2004, state officials picked a pair of mixed-use proposals that were subsequently abandoned when local residents and officials came out against them. In 2017, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation put forward plans to build a 25,000-square-foot headquarters at Nissequogue River State Park for its Division of Marine Resources. Newsday also recently reported on Suffolk County legislators delaying a vote for at least a month on the $1.3 million sale of a tax delinquent former landfill in Kings Park, which is a hamlet within Smithtown. [LIBN]