Brookhaven Memorial Hospital’s board of directors voted Tuesday night to purchase Suffolk County’s Foley Nursing Home building, greaterpatchogue.com has learned.
The hospital, which is based in East Patchogue, intends to vacate its dialysis center on West Main Street and transfer and augment those services at the Yaphank property.
Meanwhile, Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri has long said Tritec Development — the owners of the New Village at Patchogue apartments to the immediate east of the dialysis building — has expressed interest in building a hotel on the dialysis center land — as have others.
The board vote, confirmed Wednesday by officials at the hospital, county and the village, allows the hospital’s head to execute a $15 million sales contract with Suffolk County.
“I will be signing the contract for the purchase of the former John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility today based upon the affirmative vote of our Board of Directors last night,” the hospital’s president and CEO, Richard Margulis, said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon.
“I am excited for the growth of our services, for the revitalization of a recognized structure for its best purpose, and for being able to help care for even more members of our community,” Margulis added.
Legislator Rob Calarco (D-Patchogue) said the county’s only obligation is to deliver the nursing home building with zoning in place that will suit the hospital’s needs.
Calarco said the county has been working with Brookhaven Town leaders and is confident the proper zoning will be all set for Brookhaven Memorial.
“And I know the hospital is bursting at the seams in that building” on West Main Street, he said.
Pontieri welcomed the news Wednesday.
“This will afford us the opportunity to redevelop a very central piece of property in the village, with the hope of attracting a hotel,” he said. “Tritec has expressed an interest, but it would be about their negotiations with the hospital.”
“Patchogue is a unique place to be, between its restaurants and proximity to the city, the anticipated Blue Point Brewery expansion and two ferries to Fire island,” he continued. “I think a hotel is the last thing that needs to fit into town.”
He said a hotel could bring additional foot traffic, as well as the wide-reaching marketing weight a large hotel chain carries.
“It’s not only the people that it brings, but the cachet, that we are a desirable community,” he said.
Suffolk County has for years been trying to sell the nursing home and its surrounding property at 14 Glover Drive in Yaphank to help close budget deficits, dating to the Steve Levy administration.
