Cabrini Center For Nursing And Rehabilitation | The Lo-Down : News from the Lower East Side

Cabrini Nursing Home May Keep Building, Remain Open Under New Owner

The Cabrini nursing home provides care for 240 patients.

There may be some good news for Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in the East Village today, just as 2011 comes to a close.

This afternoon, we’ve received a copy of a letter from an attorney representing the owner of the building, who bought it for $25.5 million in September. The letter, a response to last week’s plea for help from local elected officials seeking to avoid closure of the low-income nursing home, reveals that the potential buyer negotiating with current owner, MM 62-74 Avenue B Owner (believed to be backed by Ben Shaoul), is actually a for-profit operator who is seeking to acquire both the nursing home operations and the real estate it occupies.

Writes Kenneth Fisher, of Cozen O’Connor:

On December 6, 2011, Cabrini’s counsel advised me that it was negotiating with a for-profit operator for the sale of its business operations, and identifying him as a potential purchaser for the real estate as well … after some discussion, and recognizing the urgency of the situation, the parties reached an understanding of what will be necessary for a transaction to occur.

Fisher goes on the caution that no deal has been inked, and asks the recipients of the letter to encourage Cabrini’s leaders and the new operator to conclude their negotiations and reach a deal as soon as possible, as the real estate sale is dependent upon the sale of the business.

Cabrini Nursing Center Sold for $25.5 Million

The Cabrini nursing home provides care for 240 patients.

After months of speculation about the future of Cabrini Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, the East Village’s largest elder-care home, The Lo-Down has learned its East Fifth Street building sold last week for $25.5 million.

A private company called “MM 62-74 Avenue B Owner” acquired the building in a transaction recorded in city land records Dec. 2. The firm, which was incorporated in August, lists as its address the law office of Goldberg Weprin Finkel Goldstein near Times Square.

The seller, another private corporation known as 64 B Venture and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., is a family trust made up of the estates of Jacob W. Friedman and Sol Henkind, according to documents.

The six-story nursing home opened in 1993 and provides care to 240 low-income elderly residents. The potential for its closure sent waves of alarm through the neighborhood this fall, generating pledges of support from community leaders and elected officials.