After being reborn with a new owner, a new name and a new management company, the Sinclair at Port Washington is scheduled for a $50 million renovation designed to give it a new lease on life, according to its new owners.
Chicago-based Focus Healthcare Partners bought The Harborside in Port Washington for $86 million in 2025, after that building’s third bankruptcy, and later renamed it the Sinclair at Port Washington.
Once known as The Harborside and previously as Amsterdam at Harborside, the continuing care retirement community had charged entrance fees sometimes exceeding $1 million, as well as monthly service fees.
Focus Healthcare Partners, a private equity real estate investment and asset management firm, acquired the Harborside in a deal that set the stage for the upcoming renovation.
A portion of the transaction proceeds, as determined by the bondholders and approved by the court, was allocated to partially repay entrance fee refunds owed to residents by the prior owner.
Focus Healthcare Partners has also bought other continuing care retirement communities with entrance fees and converted them to rentals, such as the Roosevelt at Salt Creek, in Elmhurst, Ill. In 2019, Focus bought The Virginian in Fairfax, Va., and in 2024 completed a $67 million renovation.
The Buckingham, in Houston, in January accepted a $133 million bid from Focus Healthcare Partners to acquire that community out of bankruptcy, which, if approved by the courts, would give it another property.
Focus Healthcare Partners initially planned to do a $28 million renovation of the Sinclair at Port Washington, but in a written statement said they now plan to increase that to $50 million, including more spaces than initially planned.
The senior living rental community is being run by Chelsea Senior Living, the licensed operator and manager, which operates 12 communities, including five on Long Island.
The Sinclair at Port Washington
Ardmore, Penn.-based architectural firm Meyer Design is leading the redesign of the 536,000-square-foot, gated, senior rental North Shore community on nine acres adjacent to the Harbor Links Golf Course and near North Hempstead Beach.
“The redesign is about much more than updating spaces,” Chelsea Senior Living CEO Roger Bernier said. “Our vision is to create an environment that energizes residents and supports how they want to live.”
The rental independent living community, designed for residents 62 and older, has no entrance fees or buy-in required, as there had been in the Harborside, but month-to-month contracts and includes three daily meals, while Harborside had only one.
Leases include utilities, housekeeping, maintenance, dining, social events and activities, wellness and fitness classes, valets, and 24-hour concierge support.
The Sinclair at Port Washington is also being designed to offer restaurant-style dining, housekeeping, and activities to feel more like a resort than a traditional apartment building.
“It’s really about removing the burdens of homeownership and replacing them with curated experiences, gourmet dining, and social opportunities that make daily life easier and more engaging,” Bernier said in a written statement. “This reflects a broader shift in the senior living industry, where many older adults are seeking greater financial flexibility and prefer communities without large entrance fees or long-term contracts.”
Bernier said work is slated to begin in the spring to bring the community into a new chapter, starting with residences and corridors, followed by common-area upgrades. Residents can remain in their homes during renovations, carried out in phases.
Vacant apartments and corridors will be revamped, followed by common areas, and then occupied resident apartments as they become available.
The Sinclair at Port Washington will include a renovated lobby and reception area, lobby lounge and bar, as well as social card and game rooms. Dining options will include a steakhouse-style dining room, all-day bistro and café for casual dining, New York-style deli, and wine cellar “designed for tastings and intimate gatherings.”
The Sinclair, which offers one- and two-bedroom apartments featuring full kitchens and laundry, is updating residences on a rolling basis.
They tout multiple dining venues, an indoor swimming pool, comprehensive fitness and wellness center, spa-inspired personal care and wellness spaces, movie theater, art studio, creative spaces, library and media lounge as well as a salon and personal care services.
The Sinclair will also offer pickleball and bocce courts, landscaped gardens and paths, and scheduled transportation services, as well as parking. Chelsea Senior Living, a senior living operator with more than 35 years of experience, operates communities offering independent living, assisted living, and memory care.
In addition to The Sinclair at Port Washington, they operate the Somerset Gardens and The Residences at Plainview, both in Plainview; Maple Pointe in Rockville Centre; and the Chelsea at Brookhaven in Yaphank, Suffolk County.
