New York is seeking bidders to turn the city's historical Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital into a hotel.
The city's economic and development department last week issued requests for proposal for redevelopment of the 400,000-square-foot building as a hotel and conference center to serve Manhattan's First Avenue medical corridor.
While other uses will also be considered, city officials said the building's architecture and H-shaped layout made it ideal for a hotel and conference center.
The nine-story building, which the city said could be expanded, is located between East 29th and East 30th streets on an 82,000-square-foot parcel adjacent to the first phase of the East River Science Park, a life-science and technology research and development campus scheduled to open in late 2009.
"Commercial biosciences is one of New York City's major growth industries," said Seth Pinsky, president of the New York City Economic Development Corp. "With its strategic location within the First Avenue medical corridor, the Psych Building offered a developer an excellent opportunity to capitalize on and support the city's extraordinary academic, medical research and healthcare assets."
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