Five bidders for The Harborside retirement community in Port Washington; two in negotiations

Five entities have expressed interest in purchasing The Harborside retirement community out of bankruptcy, and two have been selected for further negotiations, according to a letter submitted to the bankruptcy court judge on Friday.

Gregory M. Juell, an attorney for The Harborside, wrote that it hoped to reach an agreement with one or both of the prospective buyers, together with the facility's debtors, in advance of Wednesday’s hearing in federal court in Central Islip.

"While there has been progress made with respect to certain issues raised with respect to the [bids], consensus has not yet been reached" between The Harborside, its bondholders, unsecured creditors and the affiliated Amsterdam Continuing Care Health System Inc. in Manhattan, which built The Harborside in 2008-09, he said. 

Juell also said the identity of the would-be buyers wasn’t disclosed at their behest in his two-page letter to Judge Alan S. Trust.

Details about the proposed sale may be revealed at the hearing, including the sale price and closing date, planned debt payments and the approval process with the state Department of Health and Department of Financial Services.

A dispute between the health department and the winner of last year’s court-supervised auction caused a $104 million sale agreement to collapse last month. Since then, The Harborside has sought a new buyer and received a $1.25 million grant from the Amsterdam to keep operating after Dec. 31.

The facility is home to 181 people whose average age is 90. It has 329 units and offers different levels of care as residents age, from independent- and assisted-living apartments to a nursing home and dementia care. It is one of four "continuing care retirement communities" on Long Island.

Prospective residents often sell their homes to pay The Harborside’s entrance fee, which is determined by the size of the apartment. A portion of the entrance fee, between $527,250 and $2.2 million under one type of sales contract offered in 2021, is supposed to be refunded after a resident dies.

Joyce Shapiro, chairwoman of The Harborside Residents Council, said on Friday that she and her neighbors want the health department and Gov. Kathy Hochul to convince the first buyer, Life Care Services Communities LLC, to resume its pursuit of a sale. 

Friday's letter "describes the beginning of another process to negotiate and ultimately sell The Harborside, and that this [new process] doesn’t have the support of all parties," she told Newsday. "Having been through over one year to get the LCS deal, which was signed off on by everyone and that takes care of our residents and protects their life savings tied up in the facility, we again ask that the LCS sale be reopened by the governor and DOH."

Iowa-based LCS, the third-largest operator of senior care facilities in the country, has said it's no longer interested in owning The Harborside under current circumstances. Hochul has vowed that residents will not be evicted as long as she is governor.

Shapiro, comparing LCS to the new bidders, said, "The known and welcomed versus the unknown and most likely not as good."

The Harborside has filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors three times in the past 10 years. Its CEO did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.