NYC's Next Migrant Mega Shelter Is In Vacant Queens Office Building

QUEENS, NY — A vacant Queens office building will host the city's next migrant mega shelter, officials said.

Nearly 1,000 asylum seekers are expected to be housed inside 47-11 Austell Place in Long Island City when the relief center reaches full capacity, city officials announced Wednesday.

And reaching capacity might not take long, at least based off the dire words of Mayor Eric Adams hours after the announcement. He said 10,000 asylum seekers are coming into the city every month with "no end in sight" and no significant federal help.

"This issue will destroy New York City," he said at an Upper West Side town hall.

More than 110,000 asylum seekers have entered New York City in the past year, officials said.

The influx prompted City Hall to construct more than 200 emergency shelters and 15 large-scale "humanitarian relief centers."

The Austell Place building near Skillman Avenue had been one of those smaller shelters, but the pace of 2,400 migrants a week arriving in New York City forced officials to convert it to the city's 16th mega shelter.

The shelter first will house 330 single men, but is expected to reach its new maximum capacity of 1,000 by the end of next week, officials said.