Westchester County Center to reopen for business in a month

The Westchester County Center, which had been closed to be used as a testing, vaccination and treatment center during the Covid outbreak, is in the final stages of being restored to its former configuration so it can reopen for business as usual within a month.

To help deal with Covid, the center was opened Jan. 13, 2021 as one of the first three mass vaccination sites in New York state. That necessitated ending normal activities there.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was charged with converting the County Center and its adjacent parking lot fronting on Route 119 into emergency hospital facilities as the pandemic’s impact was becoming increasingly dramatic and there were fears that hospital capacity in Westchester County would be exceeded.

A contract for $15 million was awarded to Haughland Energy Corp. LLC of Melville to create 54 patient care units inside of the center and erect temporary structures in the parking lot to house 56 patients. The feared hospital overload in Westchester did not materialize and the County Center hospital facilities went unused.

The main level inside the center and the parking lot both have been cleared of the Covid structures. The parking lot has been repaved and new stripes mark the parking spaces.

The County Center originally opened on May 22, 1930, and has hosted myriad events such as basketball, boxing, concerts, high school and college graduations, trade shows, and performances by stars such as Judy Garland, Kenny Rogers and Janis Joplin.

“We will look forward to hosting many of the traditional groups that we’ve had at the County Center again this year,” Westchester County Executive George Latimer said. “We’re not going to have a full complement of things but we’re looking to bring back the home show, the baseball card show, the reptile show.”

Latimer announced Jan 31 that the Section One basketball tournament will be returning to the County Center. Latimer said that in addition to converting the center from health care use to regular exhibit and event use, work was needed to repair storm damage caused by Hurricane Ida. He said that there was flooding in the basement that impacted the elevators. He said work needs to be done to completely fix flood damage to the air conditioning system.

Latimer said that the air conditioning is expected to be fully functioning in time for a convention of American Legion veterans scheduled for the summer.

“Nathan’s is coming back,” Latimer said. “For those of you who have gotten accustomed to having a Nathan’s hot dog when you come to the arena, that will be back in force too.”