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Proposed 200-Bed Red Hook Nursing Home Rejected by City Council

 A rendering of the proposed nursing home at 141 Conover St. in Red Hook. The City Council voted against the project on Wednesday.
A rendering of the proposed nursing home at 141 Conover St. in Red Hook. The City Council voted against the project on Wednesday.
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Conover King Realty, LLC

RED HOOK — A plan for a 200-bed nursing home in Red Hook has collapsed.

The City Council shot down the project Wednesday afternoon, officials said, after Red Hook's Councilman Carlos Menchaca had voiced his strong opposition to the facility. 

Oxford Nursing Home had developed the $65 million plan to build an eight-story nursing home at 141 Conover St. after purchasing the property 13 years ago. The company, which currently operates a nursing home in Fort Greene, planned to eventually move to the proposed Red Hook property.

But Menchaca urged the City Council to deny the application to rezone the Red Hook property from manufacturing to a mixed-use district, a requirement for Oxford to build and operate a nursing home. 

In a statement prior to the vote, Menchaca called the proposal a "short-sighted and unsafe proposition" that would place the facility in a mandatory evacuation flood zone. He also opposed the loss of heavy manufacturing districts in the neighborhood. 

This would have reportedly been the first new nursing home approved by the city in a decade. It was set to offer long-term care for the elderly, short-term rehabilitation and a 24-hour urgent care center for the public. 

"We're extremely disappointed that the full council voted against the project,"  Oxford's attorney Howard Weiss said.

While the plan received approvals from Community Board 6 and the City Planning Commission, it was rejected by the City Council's Land Use Committee in line with Menchaca's opposition. 

Oxford is evaluating its options and will continue to operate its nursing home in Fort Greene, though the future of that facility is uncertain, Weiss said. 

The building at 144 South Oxford St. is not up to code and may shutter without continued approval from the state Department of Health. 

Menchaca said he would assist Oxford in finding "an alternative and safe site," but the nursing home's rep says no such efforts have been made so far. 

"He's been saying that for the last five months," Weiss said. "But there's not been a single alternative property identified."