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A condo developer has made an offer to buy Long Island College Hospital, and SUNY’s Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting on Tuesday morning to vote on the sale.
The potential buyer plans to lease the main hospital building to one or more health care providers, who would run facilities such as an urgent care center and fitness center, but not a hospital.Other buildings may be then redeveloped into condominiums.
The university has maintained that no viable plan to maintain a full-service hospital had been offered.
The name of the potential bidder will be disclosed at Tuesday’s meeting, officials said.
The Cobble Hill hospital has been dwindling in recent months following SUNY’s attempts to shut it down due to financial struggles. Advocates — nurses, doctors, unions and community groups — say the hospital is needed by the community and have successfully fought to keep it open.
Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has also protested the hospital’s closure and was arrested in July following a demonstration.
The board’s meeting comes just one day after local elected officials wrote a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo expressing concern over the lack of transparency during the Request for Proposals process.
The letter, signed by Councilman Stephen Levin, Rep. Nydia Velazquez, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, State Sen. Daniel Squadron, Assemblywoman Joan Millman and Councilman Brad Lander, requested that all information on proposals be made available to the public.
“Long Island College Hospital provides vital care to our constituents and without it we have grave fears for their health and the health of all of Brooklyn,” the letter stated. “Unfortunately, throughout the RFP process we have heard from our constituents time and time again that they are extremely frustrated by the lack of public information and no community stakeholder involvement.”
