A deal to keep an emergency room on the site of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn has collapsed, a huge setback to Mayor de Blasio’s plan to keep a health care facility there.
NYU-Langone Medical Center, which was supposed to operate the emergency room, walked away from the project following a labor dispute with the nurses union.
“The future of the facility is uncertain,” said a spokesman for SUNY, the hospital’s owner.
As a candidate for mayor, de Blasio fiercely opposed SUNY’s plan to close the money-losing hospital and turn the site over to a real estate developer.
A compromise reached in February called for the closure of the hospital and the creation of an emergency room as part of a planned residential development on the site.
Fortis Property Group, the current developer, said Friday that it is trying to find a new health care provider to operate the ER. The company said it was “optimistic” a partner would be found.
Through a spokesman, de Blasio said, “SUNY must live up to its responsibility to ensure that people who relied on LICH in the past will continue to have access to the care they need.”
The withdrawal of NYU-Langone was first reported by Capital New York.
