Rivington House To Convert Into Mount Sinai Health Center

LOWER EAST SIDE, NY — Rivington House, the former nursing home for HIV/AIDS patients, has reversed course from a condo conversion and instead will be leased to Mount Sinai as a health center.

Mount Sinai Health System has signed a letter of intent with Slate Property Group to lease 45 Rivington St. in the Lower East Side and turn the space into a Comprehensive Behavioral Health Center, according to a spokesman with the healthcare provider.

"The new Center will be a state-of-the-art, community-oriented destination for behavioral health care and a 'one-stop' location of services for mental health, addictions, physical health, and social service needs for the downtown community," said Loren Reigelhaupt, a spokesman for Mount Sinai.

Local leaders have long-pushed for the building to return to the community since it shuttered more than two years ago, when Allure Group purchased the building for $28 million from nonprofit VillageCare only to have the city lift a deed restriction that would have ensured it remained a health care facility and then sell it for $116 million to Slate for a luxury condo conversion.

The city's Department of Investigation said it found "significant communication failures" that lead to the removal of the deed restriction. Last November, then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman reached a settlement with Allure Group following the investigation into the scandal. The agreement required Allure to build a new health care facility in the Lower East Side and to shell out $1.25 million to community nonprofits.

Mount Sinai's move to the Rivington House is part of a broader initiative to invest in downtown health care after announcing in 2016 that it would downsize Mount Sinai Beth Israel, which boasts 799 beds a couple neighborhoods north in Gramercy. The nearby Bernstein Pavilion, which runs inpatient and outpatient behavioral health care will relocate to 45 Rivington St., with additional outpatient programs such as intensive crisis and respite beds, primary care and a partial hospitalization program.

But activists with Neighbors to Save Rivington House, which held an August rally demanding the building convert back into a nursing home, said the news came as a surprise after active negotiations with Slate for the building to return, partially or entirely, to the community as a home.

"Because of that understanding, we have led an extensive search for providers, some of whom have great interest to create a model long-term care nursing home," read a statement from the group.

"The proposed uses from Mount Sinai that we’ve heard would not help those in desperate need of nursing home housing (a long-term nursing home bed is somebody’s home)."

Slate Property Group did not return a request for comment. Neighbors to Save Rivington House urged for a sit-down meeting with all involved parties to discuss the building's future.

"It is important to redress the lack of transparency that has dogged this building’s recent history," the community group's statement continued. "Especially given that this has (and will) severely impact those who are vulnerable and without voice."

Photo courtesy of Google Maps