Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Attorney General Seeks To Block Sale of Harlem Nursing Home To Allure Group

 The Attorney General's office is trying to block Greater Harlem Nursing Home & Rehabilitation Center from being sold to Allure Group.
The Attorney General's office is trying to block Greater Harlem Nursing Home & Rehabilitation Center from being sold to Allure Group.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Aliza Chasan

HARLEM — The State Attorney General’s office wants to block the sale of a Harlem nursing home to a company it called “unsuitable and unreliable,” citing the controversial deed flip and subsequent sale of a Lower East Side facility to the residential developers, according to court documents filed Monday.

The documents, filed in state Supreme Court, questioned to ability of the Allure Group to properly manage the Greater Harlem Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Facility, at 30 W. 138th St., if allowed to buy the facility.  

The attorney general cited Allure’s purchase of Rivington House on the Lower East Side last year for $28 million. The company pledged to keep the facility open as a health care center, DNAinfo New York previously reported.

Earlier this year, however, Allure paid $16 million to lift a city deed limiting Rivington’s use for nonprofit residential treatment and then sold the property to residential developers for $116 million, which launched an investigation by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

The city's handling of the Rivington House situation has come under fire by the city's Department of Investigation, which is investigating that sale. DOI Commissioner Mark Peters had to threaten to sue the city's law department in order to get ahold of relevant documents and access to City Hall computers, the agency revealed this week.

The attorney general also cited the closing of CABS Nursing Home in Bedford-Stuyvesant last year, which the company plans to demolish.

The attorney general also questioned Allure’s ability to “provide adequate protection for the residents and patients” of the nursing home and its commitment to continue operating the facility if the sale were allowed.

Because of company’s involvement in the “questionable closings” of Rivington House and the CABS Nursing Home, the attorney general wants to use its powers under state law to block the sale, according to court documents.

Under state law, the Attorney General has broad authority to oversee the selling of assets by not-for-profit corporations. In addition, the not-for-profit corporations are required to follow “standard procedures” to sell assets and receive approval from the attorney general or the state Supreme Court, according to court documents.

The company, however, “has not submitted sufficient proof to meet its burden of demonstrating that the proposed sale would be fair and reasonable,” according to court documents.

The attorney general requested to orally present its case before the court to demonstrate its “strong opposition” to the sale.

Neil Steiner, a lawyer representing The Allure Group, said the company is committed to the facility. 

"The Allure Group has invested millions of dollars in upgrading and improving the Greater Harlem facility to turn it into a five star financially viable nursing home, and they have committed to continue operations for at least five years, and they sought to address any of the NY Attorney General's concerns,"  Steiner said in an emailed statement.  

"We are disappointed that the Attorney General chose, instead, to oppose the sale and risk the closing of this vital facility. The Attorney General's filing does not identify any misrepresentations allegedly made by the principals of Allure.

"To the contrary, as the Department of Investigations previously found, Allure told the City in advance that it would be forced to close the Rivington Street nursing home if the City insisted on a $16 million payment in connection with that facility."