On April 15, Arthur A. Gianelli, president and CEO of NuHealth, held a press conference at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow to announce the issuance of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) with regard to two separate redevelopment projects planned for NuHealth’s campuses in East Meadow and Uniondale.
Through the RFPs, NuHealth is inviting residential developers to submit bids on contractual jobs related to the planned projects.
“In concert with the redevelopment of the East Meadow and Uniondale campuses, Nassau Health Care Corporation (‘NuHealth’) is seeking proposals from qualified firms to finance, develop and own part or all of the residential component of each campus,” the RFPs read.
“We look forward to obtaining qualified professional developers to partner with us,” Gianelli said.
NuHealth’s East Meadow and Uniondale campuses are the respective sites of NUMC and A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility, both of which NuHealth oversees. Much of the focus of the redevelopments will be on renovating and/or expanding these centers. Collectively, the projects are projected to cost $1 billion and separate RFPs are associated with many of these individual aspects of both projects.
NuHealth’s plans for the East Meadow campus aim to create a “Village for Healthy Living,” which will include the construction of several new buildings: an Ambulatory Care Pavilion for NUMC’s outpatient clinics; an Ambulatory Surgery Center with associated medical office space for community doctors; an Oncology Center; and a Wellness Center. In addition, the current housing units for medical residents of the campus will be upgraded, and additional units will be added.
On the Uniondale campus, a “Senior Village at Patterson” will be created, with 388 units of independent affordable senior housing, a 150-bed Medicaid Assisted Living Facility, a 29-station dialysis clinic, a geriatrics-focused Family Health Center, and roughly 1,000 square feet of various supportive professional offices. The Uniondale project calls for the demolition of the current AHP building and the construction of a new, upgraded version of it. To obtain permission, NuHealth has placed a zoning application before the Town of Hempstead.
Gianelli described the planned projects as together comprising “one of the largest development opportunities in Nassau County.” In addition, according to a press release issued by NuHealth, the redevelopments will have the added benefit of “helping to create thousands of permanent jobs, meet housing needs of seniors and medical residents,” and “provide medical offices while improving health care of Nassau residents.”
NuHealth issued its RFPs in partnership with Health Care REIT, Inc., its master real estate developer.
“Health Care REIT has great access to financing and extensive experience in developing health care and senior living facilities, helping us to create thousands of permanent jobs, meet housing needs of seniors and medical residents, provide medical offices, while improving health care for our patients,” said Robert A. Benrubi, special counsel to Gianelli.
John Thomas, Health Care REIT’s executive vice president, stated, “We continue to be impressed by the vision and leadership of NuHealth’s management, clinicians, and community leaders. We are excited to partner with the NuHealth System to move their planning and hard work to implementation, and know patients, clinicians, and the community will be served well by the increased access to health care and services once finished.”
In describing the planning of the projects, Gianelli said, “There have been numerous meetings with the East Meadow and Uniondale communities to reach consensus on the two villages’ concept and we will continue to obtain input from the communities as we focus on the scope, timing, and financial aspects of these projects.”
NuHealth’s ambitions have received support from community leaders.
In a letter to John D. Cameron, Jr., chairman of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray noted that the redevelopments “could help facilitate the goal of a healthier community while creating jobs and stimulating our region’s economy.”
“Upon completion, the two new campuses would create 800 new jobs while generating support for local schools through payments in lieu of taxes,” Murray said. “ During the construction phase, 1,000 workers would be on the job and $500 million could be pumped into the local economy according to NuHealth. What’s more, NuHealth has demonstrated a commitment to green construction, an effort that the Town of Hempstead promotes and embraces.”
Murray requested in her letter that the LIRPC designate the planned redevelopments as Projects of Regional Significance.
Summarizing his thoughts on the matter, Gianelli said, “This has been a long and fruitful process, with extensive returns of responses anticipated to be received from the issuance of the RFP.”
The RFPs in their entirety can be accessed from NuHealth’s official website at www.nuhealth.net/procurement.asp. No proposal will be considered if received later than 3 p.m. on Friday, May 21.
