BK nursing home gets $80M construction loan for renovation

Rendering of 170 Buffalo Avenue (credit: John W. Baumgarten Architect)
Rendering of 170 Buffalo Avenue (credit: John W. Baumgarten Architect)

Centers Health Care just scored an $80 million construction loan for its conversion of an abandoned Crown Heights hospital into a nursing home.

M&T Bank provided the financing, which was consolidated with a previous $15 million mortgage, totals $80 million, records filed with the city’s Department of Finance show. The Bronx-based health care company is in the process of renovating 170 Buffalo Avenue, a vacant hospital bounded by Prospect Place, Rochester Avenue, St. Marks Avenue and Buffalo Avenue. Centers purchased the hospital in 2014 for $19.5 million.

Brownstoner reported in 2015 that Centers planned to convert the former St. Mary’s Hospital into a 280-bed nursing home. The company filed an application with the Department of City Planning to maintain the eight-story building’s configuration and to change its use. However, Centers withdrew its application in April 2016.

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The status of the project wasn’t immediately clear. The Department of Buildings’ website indicates that permits were approved for renovation work in May 2017.

A spokesperson for Centers Health Care declined to comment on Monday.