Litigation looms over Long Island College Hospital site

Though NYU Langone Medical Center has been running the emergency center on the former site of the Long Island College Hospital since last June and is moving forward with expansion plans, the threat of an appeal over its ownership still looms.

On Friday, the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court must decide whether to hear an appeal by the Concerned Physicians of LICH. The physicians claim that SUNY, the site’s former owner, improperly accepted NYU and Fortis Property Group’s $240 million bid for the property by only taking into consideration the amount that it would pay for the site.

If the plaintiffs are successful in their appeal, the site could go to Trindade Value Partners, which bid the minimum $210 million for the site but also proposed $1.8 billion in financing for the hospital it planned to build, according to Crain’s.

“I’m perfectly happy to sit down with SUNY and with Fortis to work this out, but they have to cooperate and understand that it’s my intention to build a hospital,” said Derek Oubre, Trindade’s president.

NYU plans to build a residential project with a limited medical facility on the site. It dropped out of the deal briefly last fall before deciding to move forward.

In the initial decision last summer, the court ruled against community groups that wanted the bids rescored. SUNY says that the physicians group doesn’t have the right to appeal, as it was not involved in this particular part of the suit. [Crain’s] — Tess Hofmann