The Braunstein Summit Park Deal, Gone Awry

The Braunstein Health and Rehabilitation Empire

by LostMessiah, March 18, 2016

LostMessiah has been told, and will do a follow-up article, that Barry Braunstein, also an interested party in the failed Summit Park deal is now looking to convince the Red Hook community to allow him to build a massive nursing and rehabilitation facility. In an article in Cranes New York Business, as of December 11, 2015, he had gotten community-board support. However, our sources tell us that, not only do they not trust Barry Braunstein and his intentions, but they believe the community is being lied to.

Here is the link to one of two Public Health and Planning Counsel Project applications, Project #142211-B for the summit park facility. The interested parties are listed on Page 2.

We are posting a portion of an article from Lohud, dated March 14, 2016 for the full article, which we encourage you to read, click here.

Monsey adult home operator files $5.9M suit for failed Summit Park bid

Lohud, dated March 14, 2016 by Robert Brum

The Monsey adult home operator who pulled out of a $32 million deal to buy the Summit Park Hospital and Nursing Care Center last fall is suing Rockland County for nearly $5.9 million for his deposit and other damages.

In a lawsuit filed March 8 in state Supreme Court in New City, Shalom Braunstein alleges the county and its local development corporation failed to fulfill numerous critical conditions by the planned Sept. 30 sale date.

Those conditions included getting a super-majority vote from the Rockland Legislature allowing the purchase and resolving a pair of lawsuits that sought to block the sale. The failures made it impossible for Braunstein to obtain financing or close the deal on time, the lawsuit alleges.

Braunstein is seeking $5,870,000 to recoup his $3.75 million deposit and extension fees; $500,000 in fees connected with his state applications to operate the facility and its long-term acute care hospital (L-TACH); and other fees and damages.

RELATED: State approves Summit Park closure plan; hospital empty

READ MORE: Its residents gone, sadness lingers at Summit Park

The lawsuit claims the failed transaction caused Braunstein, owner of Sympaticare, “public shame and embarrassment” as well as a loss of professional standing.

“Mr. Braunstein has a strong record of operating nursing homes in our state in a manner beneficial to staff and residents alike,” his lawyer, Michael Sussman, wrote in a statement announcing the litigation. “Undoubtedly Rockland County would have benefitted by his purchasing control of the Summit Park Nursing Home and creating a first-class L-TACH facility in the same building. Instead the county has closed the nursing home and lost the opportunity to develop a critically needed L-TACH facility — both to the detriment of its residents.”

County Executive Ed Day‘s spokesman, Scott Salotto, said the county couldn’t comment on pending litigation.

Day previously had blamed Braunstein for pulling out the of deal at the 11th hour and said the county offered Sympaticare a 30-day extension if the deal closed by Sept. 30.

When announcing the deal’s collapse on Oct. 1, Day said: “By pulling out of the deal at the eleventh hour, the prospective buyer confirms that it had failed  … Summit Park patients, residents, medical staff and the people of Rockland County,”

But on Oct. 15, after his offer to continue negotiations was rejected, Braunstein said the county was responsible for the deal’s failure.

“There was no cooperation, they stonewalled me throughout,” Braunstein said. “All the blame, it’s a lot of character assassination.”

For the article in its entirety, please click here.

For related articles see the following:

1. Offer rejected, Summit Park closing moves forward, Lohud, October 15, 2015
2. State approves Summit Park closure plan; hospital empty, Lohud, October 22, 2015
3. Rockland’s Summit Park deal falls through, Lohud, October 1, 2015