Suzanne Rozdeba Dorothy Rasenberger, Elizabeth Herring, and Joy Garland protested outside of the Cabrini Center this afternoon.The staff of the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation were still breaking the news to elderly residents that their home on Avenue B and East Fifth Street would soon close, leaving some of them in tears, a family member of a resident said today.
While the meeting regarding the closure was going on, a small group of protesters outside toted signs saying “Occupy Cabrini!” and “Save Cabrini! From Condos.” The mix of around 10 locals and family members of residents decried the failure of the new owner of the property, Benjamin Shaoul, to secure a deal to keep it open. They also blamed local politicians for not doing enough to facilitate the negotiations. Without the deal, Cabrini will almost certainly become apartments of some kind.
“My mother turned 101 on Feb. 1, and she’s been here for two years. It’s a shame,” said George Matranga, 70. “Six months ago, she’s telling me that they’re going to make the second and third floor condominiums. I’m going, ‘Mom, you’re hallucinating.’”
He added that he received a packet last week detailing the closing and how Cabrini would help residents with the transition.
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Stephen Rex Brown The new owner of the building that houses Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation has failed to come to terms with a potential new operator of the nursing home, increasing the likelihood that it will close when its lease expires in April.
Kenneth Fisher, an attorney representing Magnum Real Estate Group, which bought the building at Avenue B and Fifth Street late last year, said that negotiations to resell the building to a for-profit nursing home operator fell apart earlier this week. “On Sunday, we believed there was an agreement on the price,” he said. “On Tuesday, they had walked back from the agreement.” He added, “We’re disappointed that the transaction wasn’t reduced to a written contract.”
Michele deMilly, a consultant for Cabrini who is authorized to speak for the company, confirmed that a deal is no longer in the works: “Yesterday we heard that Magnum, meaning Ben Shaoul, was no longer negotiating with the prospective new operator of the nursing home facility on that site – he had terminated all negotiations – and that Cabrini was going to proceed with their closing plan.” Read more…
Stephen Rex Brown The Cabrini Center at 542 East Fifth Street.The six-story building that houses a medical center catering to the elderly is on the market, raising concerns that a new landlord will give low-income patients the boot before the center can build a new location.
Last night, Community Board 3 sounded the alarm on the possible closure of the Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, sending a formal letter to the lawyer of the mystery buyer of the building at Avenue B and Fifth Street. Read more…
