The buyers of the Port Washington retirement facility The Harborside are one step closer to taking over the facility, coming in as soon as next week, according to published reports.
Lawyers said in court that Focus Healthcare Partners and The Harborside are seeking to complete the deal on Tuesday. Chelsea Senior Living will come in as Focus’s operating partner for The Harborside.
Federal bankruptcy Judge Alan S. Trust approved the $86 million sale of Port Washington senior care facility, which includes a partial payout of deceased residents’ entrance fees, to Chicago-based Focus Healthcare Partners LLC in February.
In tandem with the $86 million sale is $42.5 million to reimburse families of deceased residents their family member’s entrance fees. These owed entrance fees amount to about $120 million.
The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, comprised of residents and family members of deceased residents, and the ad hoc resident group, filed a letter in court expressing their support of the sale.
The residents and families voted unanimously in support of the sale, with bondholders voting 104-2. The only group voting in opposition to the sale is its vendors and suppliers.
Bondholders are also owed about $150 million, and vendors and suppliers are owed about $70,000.
Payments to some of the residents and families of deceased residents have already begun, with payment plans established for 180 of the 210 parties.
Payments will be made over two rounds, with the second based on the impending sale of The Harborside’s sister facility, Amsterdam Nursing Home, on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. The dollar amount for this sale has not been disclosed.
The fees will be paid via $36.5 million from the sale of The Harborside’s Manhattan facility on the Upper West Side and $2 million by Focus Healthcare Partners.
The sale of the Harborisde guarantees the facility will still open and residents can remain in their homes after filing for bankruptcy in 2023 for the third time in nine years, but does include the closure of its assisted living facilities.
These include 56 skilled nursing beds, 26 enriched housing units in the assisted living area, and 18 memory support beds in the memory care unit.
This portion’s closure was previously described as temporary. Focus has expressed its intent to apply for state permits through the Department of Health to reopen these facilities in the future.
The facility’s independent living residents, though, will be permitted to stay. These units will change from the prior entrance fee-based admission to rental units.
Independent living residents who choose to stay will also be grandfathered in, with their current rental rates maintained and capped at a 5% increase every year.
