Tax relief iffy for Golden Hill buyer
Agency board expresses concern about COVID cases at other facility
KINGSTON, N.Y. » The Ulster County Industrial Development Agency board appears to be leaning against granting tax relief to the prospective buyer of Golden Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Kingston. Board members this week cited the number of COVID-19 cases at the Ten Broeck Commons nursing home in Lake Katrine, whose ownership group shares members with the group looking to buy Golden Hill.
Ulster NH Realty LLC, the Brooklyn-based partnership that wants to buy Golden Hill, is seeking to have tax breaks that are afforded to the current owner transferred as part of the sale.
Industrial Development Agency board member Daniel Savona said during a meeting Wednesday that the difference between
Ten Broeck Commons and Golden Hill is significant when it comes to COVID.
“You guys had 30-something deaths,” Savona said to Ulster NH Realty’s Solomon Klein, referring to Ten Broeck Commons. “Golden Hill had zero.”
The state Department of Health reported 32 COVID-related deaths at Ten Broeck Commons as of Wednesday and none at Golden Hill.
IDA board members said Ulster NH Realty has a core group of people who collectively own 34 facilities, though the individuals have varying percentages of ownership stakes. Klein, who is listed as having a 10 percent ownership stake in Ten Broeck Commons, said the facilities have a good record of patient care.
“Every facility we own currently is ... [rated] four to five stars,” he said.
But board members, cit
ing data from medicare.gov, said 19 of the 34 facilities have a rating of two stars or less.
“You’re not making widgets,” Richard Jones said. “This board cares about having our imprint and our signature on anything having to do with giving tax inducements to an entity that dealing with elderly [residents].”
In its application for the tax breaks to be transferred, Ulster NH Realty says an agreement for it to buy Golden Hill was reached on Nov. 22, 2019, but that a closing date has not been set. The prospective buyer expects the total cost of the purchase, including financing expenses and legal fees, to be $42.2 million.
Golden Hill was owned
by Ulster County until June 2013, when it was sold to an acquisitions company calls VestraCare 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.
Ulster NH Realty expects $35.8 million in annual revenue from Golden Hill, but it has not provided an estimate of operating expenses.