Nayan Parikh’s Ashnu International completed civil works for the Center, which was readied in three months and opened last week.
The first of three Covid Centers of Excellence (CoEs) designed to meet the long- and short-term healthcare needs of patients recovering from Covid-19, opened to patients last week in the Bronx, New York. The NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) managed the construction one year sooner than the original construction schedule.
The Bathgate Vaccination Center was built under a contract with Gilbane Inc. Ashnu International, owned by Nayan Parikh, bagged the civil contract except painting and millwork. Parikh’s company was responsible for demolition, partitions, and concrete work. The contractors managed to turn the facility over to New York City’s public hospital system in just three months.
Parikh said: “In order to build the Covid Center of Excellence, a 26,000 sq ft building, it was practically rebuilt.”
The 26,000 sq ft facility was revamped to transform it into the Center for NYC Health + Hospital(H+H). The Center has 40 examination rooms, including five with negative air pressure handling to contain airborne virus particles from patients with Covid and 15 vaccination rooms fitted with refrigerators, generators, and infrastructure to support the process.
DDC Commissioner Lorraine Grillo said: “The DDC team was able to cut at least a year off construction time for this very important project, which will bring healthcare services to people in the Bronx who are recovering from Covid.”
The work was carried out in two shifts, six-days-a-week to meet the aggressive opening schedule. Around 150 workers were at the site daily. However, strict policies of health screening and social distancing were followed that resulted in no cases of Covid-19 among workers during the construction process. The work began in early June and was handed over to H+H on September 30.
Another center in Jackson Heights, Queens, was completed by DDC and is currently being fitted out before opening to patients while a third center much bigger is still under construction.
Ashnu International is a construction management and general contracting company based in New York and has clients ranging from federal and state agencies as well as many in the private sector. Nayan Parikh is the founder of the company and was an Advisory Board Member for the Mayor’s Office on Minority and Women Owned Business of New York City, and selected by Former Mayor of New York City Mike Bloomberg to serve on the Construction Mentorship Advisory Panel. Parikh also served as the president of the Society of Indo-American Engineers and Architects (SIAEA).
