As if the saga of Long Island College Hospital hasn't been dragged out long enough, Crain's reports that operator SUNY Downstate Medical Center announced last night that they are delaying the sale of the financially failing Cobble Hill complex. Talk of the hospital closing has been ongoing for more than a year, and last summer SUNY started looking at redevelopment bids; most of which included market rate house, none of which included a hospital. The community and local official pushed back, and in December, SUNY tabled any possible sale. Developers continued to publicly vie over the site, which sits on prime Brooklyn real estate, and at the end of January, SUNY decided to re-open the bidding to buy and redevelop the 200,000-square-foot campus. New proposals were due Monday, and four possible plans were revealed, then John Catsimatidis jumped in and added a fifth (which happens to be the only plan with a full hospital).
But now those bidders have been left hanging. They were supposed to present their plans to the SUNY board today, but SUNY delayed the presentations indefinitely. They gave no indication as to when they might happen, which means a sale won't be happening anytime soon. The complex has been valued at $270 million, an amount that would cover just over half of the hospital's $500 million in liabilities.
Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams was supposed to host a Q&A about the proposals last night on BRIC, but technical problems prevented that (and pissed off the community). However, the program will now be aired four times today and four times tomorrow.
Development teams include: Related Companies and the Brooklyn Hospital Center; Fortis Property Group and NYU Langone Medical Center; Brisa Builders and the Chetrit Group; Don Peebles and Institute for Family Health; and John Catsimatidis and Chinese Community Accountable Care Organization and the Eastern Chinese American Physician IPA. The Brooklyn Paper has a simple, easy-to-follow breakdown of the plans, but for those wanting all the details, the full proposals can be found here:
LICH RFP Resubmitted Proposal Summaries by crainsnewyork
· SUNY delays LICH's fate [Crain's]
· Five for fighting over LICH [Brooklyn Paper]
· All LICH coverage [Curbed]
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