Pinnacle Group of Hudson Valley Buys Queens Nursing Home

Another nursing home in Queens traded hands this week, leaving questions about what the property’s future holds.

Nelson Tuchman sold the 55,000-square-foot facility at 111-26 Corona Avenue in Corona to an entity that shares an address with the Pinnacle Group of Hudson Valley for $56.4 million, the Commercial Observer reported. Tuchman paid only $3.3 million for the 200-bed property back in 2008.

Tuchman was not reachable for comment, while a representative for the apparent Pinnacle Group affiliate declined to comment to the Observer.

Pinnacle Group is incorporated in Maine and owns facilities in and around the state; in 2020, it agreed to purchase two properties in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area before the onset of the pandemic.

The Rego Park Health Care facility has been family owned and operated for more than 50 years, according to its website. The nursing home offers 24-hour nursing care, vacation care and short-term rehabilitation.

Nursing homes are an intriguing play for real estate investors. Occupancy rates tend to be strong and the United States is home to an increasingly aging population, meaning there will likely continue to be increased demand for spots in such facilities.

Last year, Sentosa Care chief executive officer Ben Landa sold a 183-bed facility at 22-41 New Haven Avenue in the Queens neighborhood of Far Rockaway for $47.3 million, a deal that worked out to more than $258,000 per bed. Landa also invested on the relative cheap, like Tuchman, buying the 49,000-square-foot facility for a mere $3 million in 2016 through his New Surfside Realty platform.

But changes at nursing homes — or struggles — can result in messy headlines.

At the start of the year, Bent and Avi Philipson placed a 588-unit nursing home facility into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after struggling to meet the weekly payroll at the Woodbury property. They’ve attempted an “emergency evacuation” of the property, putting hundreds of residents at risk of being displaced.

— Holden Walter-Warner