Mosley throws support behind Fortis development plan in LICH dispute
Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley (D-57) on Monday threw his support behind one of several proposals being considered by SUNY Downstate in its push to sell Long Island College Hospital (LICH), in Cobble Hill. Mosley said in a letter to SUNY Board Chairman H. Carl McCall that he is backing a consortium led by developer Fortis Property Group, joined by L&M Development Partners, NYU-Langone and Lutheran Family Health Center.
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UPDATE: Assemblymember Mosley has a change of heart
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Mosley, whose district overlaps SUNY Downstate’s service area — Prospect Heights, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, and parts of Crown Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant — said in the letter to McCall that the plan “offers the best approach to addressing the health care and affordable housing needs of the communities surrounding the Long Island College Hospital site. The Fortis proposal offers a truly transformative approach to providing health care and housing services, coupled with a plan for ongoing community engagement.” (See below for the entire letter.)
SUNY’s attempts to sell LICH have been strongly opposed by a consortium of six community groups, elected officials representing LICH’s service area, patients and unions.
SUNY officials will be appearing before state Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes on Tuesday to face contempt charges for their attempts to close LICH in violation of court orders.
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Letter from Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley to Chairman H. Carl McCall
February 17, 2014
Via: Email, Facsimile & Regular Mail
Honorable H. Carl McCall, Chairman
State University of New York — Board of Trustees
State University Plaza Albany, NY 11226
Re: NYU–Langone/Lutheran Family Health Center/Fortis Property Group/ L&M Development Partners RFP for the Purchase of Long Island College Hospital Brooklyn Campus (LICH)
Dear Chairman McCall:
As the New York State representative for the 57th Assembly District which encompasses the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, as well as parts of Crown Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant, I would like to express my strong support for the revised NYU–Langone/Fortis Property Group RFP submission for the purchase of Long Island College Hospital Brooklyn Campus (LICH).
After a great deal of consideration, I believe that the NYU/Fortis plan offers the best approach to addressing the health care and affordable housing needs of the communities surrounding the Long Island College Hospital site. The Fortis proposal offers a truly transformative approach to providing health care and housing services, coupled with a plan for ongoing community engagement.
I am particularly pleased by Fortis’s partnership with the NYU–Langone Medical Center, Lutheran Family Health Centers and L&M Development Partners. NYU Langone is one of the nation’s premier medical institutions offering a world-class, patient-centered, integrated approach to health care and they would be a welcome addition to the Brooklyn community. Additionally, Lutheran’s plan to operate a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) will only further ensure that this medical facility is able to address the community’s wide array of health care needs. Finally, L&M Development Partners, who will work with Fortis on the affordable housing component of the project, has an extraordinary reputation and track record in Brooklyn and within their field.
I firmly believe that the Fortis proposal and the team that they have assembled to develop this visionary proposal will transform the state of health care in Brooklyn and in New York City as a whole. Thousands of my constituents rely upon the medical services provided at the Long Island College Hospital facility and am thrilled to support this proposal.
I hope that the SUNY Board will reach this same conclusion and select Fortis to convert the LICH campus into a project that will prove to be a model of visionary development, with benefits for the surrounding communities at its core.
Sincerely,
Hon. Walter T. Mosley, New York State Assembly, 57th District
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