UPPER WEST SIDE — Jewish Home Lifecare says it will start construction in February 2013 on a new nursing home that neighbors have rallied against, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The 24-story nursing home, to be built on West 97th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, has prompted neighborhood concern since Jewish Home Lifecare first proposed the new facility several years ago. Locals worry the nursing home will overwhelm the block, already home to a school and Whole Foods loading area, with too much traffic.
Jewish Home Lifecare now provides skilled nursing for seniors in a building on West 106th Street, but the organization wants to replace that aging structure with a new, state-of-the-art facility. Originally Jewish Home Lifecare wanted to sell part of its West 106th Street property to The Chetrit Group, a residential developer, then use the proceeds to build a new building on West 100th Street.
That plan was ultimately scrapped, but Chetrit and Jewish Homelife worked out a new deal to swap vacant property that Chetrit owned on West 100th Street for Jewish Homelife's West 106th Street site.
Now the details of the land transaction have been finalized, and Jewish Homelife is ready to move forward on the $250 million facility, with a projected move-in date of spring 2017, the Journal reported.
Jewish Homelife Care spokesman Ethan Geto told DNAinfo in July that residents opposed to the project would get a chance to voice concerns and ask questions at a public forum that would be scheduled after the land deal was final.
"We'll answer all questions [even] if we have to stay all night," Geto said then.
