Golden Hill might change hands
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Members of the partnership that owns the Ten Broeck Commons nursing home in Lake Katrine are part of a group that is seeking to buy the Golden Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Kingston for nearly $38 million.
The possible purchase was the subject of an Ulster County Industrial Development Agency virtual meeting Tuesday. Elliot Lee, attorney for prospective buyer Ulster NH Realty LLC of Brooklyn, said ownership of the two nursing homes won’t be identical if the sale goes through.
Lee said the two primary people with stakes in both operations would be Solomon Klein, who has a 10 percent stake in Ten Broeck Commons and is listed as a primary contact for Ulster NH Realty, and Ernest Schlesinger, who has a 40 percent stake in Ten Broeck Commons and would have a 17 percent stake in Golden Hill.
Ulster NH Realty also consists of four limited liability corporations that have unidentified members, while Ten Broeck Commons’ current ownership group comprises one LLC, plus Mordechai Getz, Avrom Gold, Esther Klein and Eugene Mendlowits.
The Industrial Development Agency, which is involved because the prospective buyers want to keep a payment-in-lieu-of taxes agreement for Golden Hill in place, could face difficulties in conducting required background checks because of how many people are involved.
“We only do a full background check on 25-percent or more owners,” said agency Executive Director Rose Woodworth. “In this particular case, there’s only one person that fits that description.”
Ulster NH Realty plans to pay $37.6 million for Golden Hill. With financing expenses and legal fees the total cost is expected to be $42.2 million.
Ulster NH Realty says an agreement for the sale was reached on Nov. 22, 2019. It expects $35.8 million in annual revenue, but information about operating expenses was not immediately available.
The deal was made before the onset of COVID-19 pandemic, which has hit nursing home populations particularly hard. The hard been 32 COVID-related deaths at Ten Broeck Commons as of June 8, though none at Golden Hill, according to state data.
Golden Hill was owned by Ulster County until June 2013, when it was sold to an acquisitions company calls VetsraCare for $11.3 million. In 2016, the Industrial Development Agency granted VestraCare a waiver from the mortgage recording tax for the refinancing of $13 million in debt.
The agency also approved a 25-year paymentin-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, deal. Under that deal, Golden Hill’s owner, currently identified as Golden Hill Acquisition LLC, paid a total of $154,648 in 2019 to Ulster County, the city of Kingston and the Kingston school district, while nearly $495,000 was exempted.
The prospective new owners of Golden Hill want to keep the tax deal in place.