(CNN) The New York stadium complex that hosts the annual U.S. Open tennis tournament every summer will be used as a makeshift hospital to bolster efforts to care for patients during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens is slated to be transformed into overflow hospital space, said Chris Widmaier, U.S. Tennis Association spokesman. The conversion is being made at the request of the New York City Office of Emergency Management, he added.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the makeshift hospital will have 350 beds and, starting next week, will support patients who have tested positive for Covid-19 but do not need ICU care from Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. That will relieve some of the pressure from the hospital, which has been at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak

Aerial view of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park from 2007.

The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is one of the world's largest public tennis facilities and is home to Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium and a number of smaller tennis courts.

The U.S. Open, scheduled for late August, is still on.

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