Attorney General Seeks To Block Sale Of Coney Island Nursing Home To Scandalized Operator
The New York attorney general’s office is trying to block the sale of a Coney Island nursing home, and another facility in Harlem, to a company at the center of a real estate scandal related to nursing center on the Lower East Side.
The Allure Group, whose sale of the Rivington House nursing center in February prompted investigations by three different agencies, wants to purchase the Saints Joachim and Anne Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Coney Island, as well as the Greater Harlem Nursing Home & Rehabilitation Center, the New York Times reports.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office reportedly sent letters informing both centers he would not support “any proposed sales of not-for-profit organizations, in particular nursing homes, to the Allure Group.”
The Attorney General’s office reviews the sale of assets by a non-profit in New York. The organizations must then get court approval.
The Allure Group, a nursing home operator, is under investigation by the attorney general, the New York City comptroller and the city’s Investigation Department over its $116 million dollar sale of the Rivington House to a developer. Allure group had pledged to keep the facility open as a health center for at least two years when it paid $16 million for the city to drop deed restrictions on the property, according to the Times.
The attorney general’s office also alleges Allure Group purchased another nursing home in Bedford-Stuyvesant last year and closed it months later with plans to demolish the building, the Times reports.
“Allure made clear and repeated promises to continue the operation of two nursing homes for the benefit of a vulnerable population — promises that proved to be false,” and attorney general spokesman told the Times. “Until we conclude our investigation, we will object to Allure buying additional nursing homes.”
A lawyer for Allure denied the company had misled officials.
“At no time has Allure misled any public authority about its intentions or commitments,” he told the Times. “As the Department of Health-approved receiver for Greater Harlem, over the last two years, Allure has advanced many millions of dollars to renovate and upgrade Greater Harlem, which is now fully occupied. Allure is committed to running Greater Harlem as a nursing home as part of its mission to save needed facilities and jobs.”
A lawyer for Saints Joachim and Anne Nursing and Rehabilitation Center told Politico New York in a statement that they are currently reviewing the Attorney General’s letter.