Demo of Psych Center Buildings Expected To Begin in Spring

Officials announced on Tuesday that they would begin to accept competive bids from private companies to begin the demolition of buildings on the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center.

New York State Parks Commissioner, Rose Harvey said the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation would begin to seek bids in November from private construction companies.

“Removal of these deteriorated and unneeded buildings will represent real progress at the Kings Park site,” said Harvey in a letter to State Sen. John Flanagan.

State parks has allocated up to $15 million to undertake the demolition project. Funding for the project will come from a $25 million state budget appropriation initiated in 2006 by Flanagan.

“After years of hard work and the most recent actions by the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the vision for this parkland property can finally begin to take shape for the people of Kings Park,” said Flanagan.

Mike Rosato, Chairman of the Nissequogue River State Park Foundation, says the location of the property-its proximity to the Nissequogue River, the Long Island Sound and Sunken Meadow State Park lend themselves to the property becoming parkland. 159 acres were dedicated to parkland in 2000 and 365 in 2006.

“That was a major victory, achieved only because the community understood the economic consequences of failing to stop the proposed development of up to 2,000 homes in the small hamlet of Kings Park,” he said.

 According to officials, completion of the project, including site restoration after the buildings have been removed, will take more than one year.

Four of the buildings slated for demolition are located within the 153-acre Nissequogue River State Park, which was established in 2000. The other eleven buildings that will be removed are located on an additional 35 acres of the property that were transferred to the agency in 2006. Some of the structures slated for removal include the smokestack and other structures adjacent to the abandoned power plant.

Rosato says this is an important step in the right direction and hopes it will lead to the complete remediation of the park over a reasonable time period.

“It is extremely critical that state parks issue an RFP for the park’s master plan,” said Rosato. The master plan will help in determing the most appropriate reuses of the property and will help define a strategy to help pay for at least some of the clean up costs.”