Ongoing negotiations to preserve the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation on East Fifth Street at Avenue B have been unsuccessful. According to an anonymous source, Cabrini has run out of options and will close its doors in four to five months. During this time, Cabrini officials will find new homes for its residents as well as placement for current day-care clients.
Cabrini officials informed their employees of the impending closure today. Cabrini will work to help place the nearly 300 employees elsewhere.
In November, we reported that developer Ben Shaoul was the mystery buyer of Cabrini. The building's previous owner was an unnamed family trust who, according to the Lo-Down, sold Cabrini for $25.5 million.
According to several sources, Shaoul discussed flipping the building, and at least one interested party was seeking to purchase the property (one estimate put the price in the $36 million neighborhood) and continue operating the site as a for-profit nursing facility. However, those negotiations have ended.
Shaoul's attorney, Kenneth Fisher, had said at the end of 2011 that if Cabrini and the potential new operator failed to reach agreement, then eviction proceedings would commence. "My client purchased the property in good faith, with the intention of upgrading it for an as-of-right use. Their financing is in place and architectural design in under way,” Fisher wrote in a letter published by the Lo-Down on Dec. 30,
The nonprofit, 240-bed nursing home — sponsored by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — provides health care for low-income elderly residents in the East Village. The location at Fifth Street and Avenue B opened in 1993. This location serves 240 patients and employs nearly 300 people.
Cabrini officials had been planning to relocate to an unspecified site owned by the Archdiocese of New York in the next five years. However, without a lease extension on East Fifth Street and ample opportunity to find a new home, the facility would lose its state-issued operating license.
The anonymous source believes that the Cabrini building will be converted into condominiums.
UPDATED 5:30 p.m.
A clarification from Kenneth Fisher:
Your statement that we would not grant an extension so that Cabrini could build a new facility on land provided by the Archdiocese isn't quite correct. We were willing to consider something, but Cabrini turned out not to be able to move forward with it. We also at their request attempted to sell the building to a for profit operator at their request who turned out not to be able to perform. It was only after those alternatives failed that we advised Cabrini that no extension would be granted. Please bear in mind that this situation was created when the previous seller decided to sell ad set a price that Cabrini couldn't meet. We attempted to work with them in good faith.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Claim: Ben Shaoul is the new owner of Cabrini nursing home, will convert to condos
Report: Local politicians reach out to Ben Shaoul as re-sale of the Cabrini Nursing Center seems likely
Is this as right up there in the Disgraceful Hall of Shame as it seems to me?
ReplyDelete"As-of-right" opposed to "as a human being with a conscience."
This is really sad. I had a friend who needed their services last year ad I don't know what she would have done without this facility. It's not bad enough the city is pricing out long term residents of this community but now the seniors are getting the boot too?
ReplyDeleteBloomberg to LES Seniors... "Get the fuck out !"
ReplyDeleteBen Ghoul,
ReplyDeletei am ashamed that this is happening in my neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteshaoul truly is the devil.
how could he do this?
what's next from this monster?
those poor people.. my heart goes out to them and their families.. this is seriously the lowest of the low.
out with more the soul of the east village, and in with the soul-less.
i also DREAD more unending construction so very close to my home.
the neighborhood resembles a warzone more and more each day, and in more ways than one.
it's just so upsetting that this is actually happening.
I think it would be a great project to profile as many residents as possible.
ReplyDeleteAnd maybe, for the strong-stomached, ask them what they will do when they are forced out on the street.
Ben Shaoul is absolutely vomit-inducing.
Just ugh
The words escape me for this. Really
And you wouldn't even be able to ask the majority of the residents... The ones I know, including a family member, have advanced dementia and are no longer coherent. These people are seriously in need of stable care.
DeleteNot to mention, the staff at Cabrini is the best I've ever seen in a nursing home. What happens to them?
I doubt my family member will survive a move like this.
If there are ever applications in front of the community board etc related to this property, the neighborhood needs to show up in force. F them if they want to replace a nursing home with bars or restaurants on the 1st floor, and F any restauranteur who wants to pick over the desiccated corpse of the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteAgree with 5:57. This behavior is disgusting. Put out signs, put out the word, and don't patronize any businesses that open here. Oppose any liquor licenses. In fact, why not picket anything that chooses to open here and and give Ben Sha-tool rent money?
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be a pattern now. Bialystoker Nursing Home closed. Goldwater is being forced to close. Some of those people are sure to end up homeless. Yet this is not getting the publicity it deserves. All we hear about Goldwater is the hoopla about the new university campus that will take its place. Nobody seems to care about the people. We need to raise a much bigger fuss about all of this.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a travesty. I cannot believe how much of my old neighborhood is now nothing but a memory. I can now add this building to it. I remember playing in the ruins of the Loew's Ave B theater as a kid. Maybe my memory obviously fails me but I hasn't this building been there a lot longer than 20 years?
ReplyDelete"We were willing to consider something, but Cabrini turned out not to be able to move forward with it. "
ReplyDeleteClarification to the clarification by Kenneth Fisher:
Cabrini had been paying $1 million to rent the building. Shaul would extend the lease if Cabrini paid $3 millions. Cabrini was not able to move forward.
Nursing home closures have become commonplace in recent years. All across the country we keep hearing of nursing homes closing. My question is this - where are the elderly supposed to go? One day most of us will be old and need someone to help take care of us, but unfortunately the reality is there will not be a place for us. Whether it is because the government and their cutbacks is making it harder for them to stay open is bad enough but then to hear that a YOUNG, HEARTLESS, ENTREPRENEUR that only care about money and condos is standing in the way is extremely sad! Cabrini is the only nursing home in the lower east side area and because one ONE man, 240 residents will now not have a place to call "their home". This is such a shame that no one could stop this from happening.
ReplyDeletelower east community should fight for cabrini closure together with the resident's family. this is the only nursing home that is left in the neighborhood. care provided in this nursing home is definitely worth fighting for!
ReplyDeleteMy mom is at Cabrini... She has been there for three years.
ReplyDeleteThis is a loving and caring Facility.
The seniors at Cabrini need your help...
Come help us keep the doors of this caring facility open..
We need you to come out and be hearts with us...
We are meting tomorrow March 14th at 2and 6PM..
Please come join us .. We need your help....
Please help our loving seniors
@ anon 4:10
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comment. Is the meeting at Cabrini?
The community needs to fight for this and other places like this to stay open... with the aging population , goverment's cuts on home care....what's the alternative for aging people of Manhattan? Deportation to Brooklyn Bronx, euthanasia????? LES people- this will soon apply to you, your parents and grandparents. let's join the protesters!!!
ReplyDeleteThe meeting tomorrow is at Cabrini...
ReplyDeletePlease help us....
We need all the support we can get..
Shaoul was walking down Avenue A between 14 and 13 this morning with a group of developer types, and by that I mean older white guys in sportscoats and phones clipped to their belts who could have not looked more out of place. He's up to something.
ReplyDeleteWho are people protesting? Shaoul is the villain here, and he could care less. People have commented on Bloomberg, but City has nothing to do with this. This is raw capitalism. Shaoul bought the property and is kicking out the patients. Cabrini asked for a 5-year extension at a rent they could afford while they develop a new place—but Shaoul said no.
ReplyDeleteHello, I have a relative at this Center since Mid February 2012, who is quite happy there and is getting good attention. The staff is nice. The Center is actively relocating the residents to other facilities throughout the city. We have received literature from Boro park Center in Bklyn and it seems like a similarly nice place based on mailing and looking on the internet. My uncle is happy, but in a bldg on E5 street. I don't see how a move to Bklyn will make him unhappy. He will still have a room, a bed and a community room, and will probably not even know he has moved. The staff of 300 is being relocated, it's not like anyone is unemployed. The only inconvenience is to those relatives currently in limbo awaiting where their loved ones will be placed. Currently it takes me 1 hr to get from E39 street in manhattan to go to E5 street. Going to Bklyn by easy train will shave 30 minutes off the trip. That's my opinion. Michael
ReplyDelete