Long-Abandoned Rockaway Courthouse To Get New Life As Medical Center
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A historic building which has been abandoned for more than four decades is getting new life in Queens.
Developer Uri Kaufman is buying the old Rockaway Courthouse on Beach Channel Drive for $50,000 and turning it into a medical center, filling a void left when the bankrupt Peninsula Hospital shut down last year.
Old Rockaway Courthouse Getting New Life
"It's the worst kind of blight because it's government owned," Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder told WCBS 880's Alex Silverman.
Goldfeder applauds the city for selling the building and finding "a responsible developer who's not just going to build for profit, but make sure to build for the community."
He added that the new medical center will "create long-term jobs, but more importantly give us something in Rockaway that we can be proud of."
The courthouse, which was built in 1932, closed in 1962. It was last used by an arts group in the 1970s.
The columns and the rest of the facade of the 24,000-square-foot building will remain while the inside will be gutted, Silverman reported.
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