SUNY officials on Friday night released nine proposals from developers and health care groups bidding to take over the state-run, money-losing Long Island College Hospital.
The latest request for proposals, which was written after SUNY settled a lawsuit with community groups and labor unions, drew interest from all around the world.
There is a broad range of ideas for SUNY trustees and community representatives to think about—some organizations are offering to return the Cobble Hill institution to a full-service hospital with even more beds than it has now, while others envision a small free-standing emergency room.
Some envision real estate development on the site with a mix of affordable housing, while others do not.
SUNY officials and community representatives will score the bids by Wednesday. The SUNY Board of Trustees will then meet in early April to select a proposal.
These bids are just starting points. Once a “winner” is selected, there will be further negotiations.
Below is a brief summary of the nine bids:
Brooklyn Health Partners – Price $250 million: BHP, a new company created to bid on LICH, is spearheaded by Merrell Schexnydre, the president of the California Community Collaborative Inc. BHP envisions expanding LICH, offering 300 to 400 beds. Construction would begin 2 to 3 years after closing the deal. In the meantime, they would operate a “bridge facility” with 150 beds. Their proposal also calls for 1,000 units of housing, 30 percent of which will be affordable units. BHP would own the property and lease it back to an autonomous hospital operator for 20 years. That would allow the hospital to remain not-for-profit, while BHP can stay a for-profit entity. BHP also proposes to pay its employees a “living wage” as they build the new housing units.
Fortis Property Group – Price $240 million: They are proposing to partner with NYU Langone Medical Center and Lutheran Medical Center. Their proposal would create a 24/7 freestanding emergency department, urgent care center and use a portion of the campus for real estate development. The ED would only accept basic life support ambulances and would have four observational beds. The plan also offers a range of health specialties on site. Inpatient care will be provided through transfer agreements with Lutheran Medical Center. Dialysis services will be provided through the contract NYU already has with Atlantic Dialysis. Fortis would also make a $5 million contribution to establish a foundation that would focus on community health care needs. Their proposal promises to set aside 25 percent of new units for affordable housing.
The Peebles Group – Price – Redacted: Developer Don Peebles made a splash when it became known that he was partnering with North Shore-LIJ and Maimonides Medical Center. Together with ProHEALTH, they offer a free-standing emergency room, ambulatory surgery center and several subspecialty offices. They are also offering $7.5 million to develop new jobs outside the hospital. The proposal says that “given the $210 million price floor, heavy weight given to pricing above the floor and lack of weight for affordable housing in the scoring mechanism, we were unable to support a meaningful affordable housing component in the proposal. If selected, we look forward to the opportunity to discuss the potential for affordable housing in our development with the city and the state.”
Prime Healthcare Services – Price $220 million: Prime, a for-profit California company that is expanding across the country, is proposing a full-service hospital. They would use their nonprofit arm to run LICH. Prime A Investments, another wing of the multi-billion dollar company would own the real-estate portion of LICH. Core properties will be leased back to Prime Healthcare and non-core properties “will be managed or sold to companies that respect and care for the community.” Prime will offer a minimum of 100 beds and are open to expanding to as many as 300 beds.
The Brooklyn Hospital Center –Price: $212 million + $75 million to strengthen community health care. TBHC, working with real estate developer Related Companies and Mount Sinai Medical Center, is proposing a freestanding Emergency Department, two new urgent care centers and two new federally qualified health centers in Gowanus and Red Hook. Mount Sinai is offering up to $10 million for investing in the improvement of health care. Related, which is looking to create a mix of market-rate and affordable housing, would own the property and lease it back to TBHC, which is also offering to create an app that will enable individuals to identify the complete array of available services by location and gain instant access to physicians, nurses, patient navigators, and other services, as well as their health records, through a patient portal.
Lana Acquisition Partners –Price $230 million: They are proposing a freestanding emergency department and a range of specialty care. This proposal is a bit vague but it’s being submitted by George Weinberger, chairman of the board for New York Community Hospital, and Alan Gross, chairman and CEO of GFI development. Their proposal states that they are in discussions with a licensed Federally Qualified Health Center to provide needed health care services. This bid proposes to use the upper floors of the FQHC as a nursing home, another building as an assisted living facility, a building on Hicks Street for a public school and the rest of the campus will be used for real estate development. They envision no in-patient beds or in-patient services.
The Chetrit Group – Price $251 million: This proposal offers to set aside 149,000 square feet of space for a health care player to be named later. That health care operator would be charged $20 per square foot to lease the space. Alternatively the state could have that space and choose its own health care provider but then the price drops down to $226 million. The rest of the campus would be used for residential development. They are working with FX Fowle, a developer, and would seek a zoning change. They are promising 30 percent of units would be designated affordable housing. The Chetrit Group recently made headlines when they won the rights to redevelop property across from Madison Square Garden.
Chinese Community Accountable Care Organization – Price $210 million: CCACO is offering a full-service hospital. They would partner with Saint George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada to provide a medical education component. They propose a hospital with 150 in-patient beds. They also propose to add as many as 100 more beds over the next two years. The proposal is not clear on how CCACO would raise the $210 million.
Trindade Value Partners – Price $210 million. Trindade is proposing a full-service teaching hospital with 506 beds. Trindade is run by Derek Oubre, whose website says Trindade is a “U.S. private equity and consulting concern focused on the production of highly valued pharmaceuticals. The Company provides financial and strategic consulting for pharmaceutical concerns.” IDEEN pharmaceuticals, a Brazilian company, will capitalize the project. They are looking for the city to create a special zoning district called “The LICH district,” which would allow for the kind of real estate they have in mind. They are offering to keep 25 percent “affordable.”
