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Rosewood Heights, a Syracuse nursing home that houses 242 beds in a six story building, is slated to be shut down and converted into an apartment building in 2014. In March 2012, the nursing home was placed on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service’s (CMS) Special Focus Facility (SFF) list for providing poor care to its residents. Facilities on the SFF watchlist receive twice as many Department of Health inspections and have 24 months to implement changes to improve the quality of care. However, in 2013, the CMS fined Rosewood Heights $16,000 for a long list of deficiencies uncovered at the facility during three inspections conducted in 2012. The 42-year-old nursing home is considered a “safety net” facility that provides care to elderly patients who have nowhere else to go.
Rosewood Heights is slated to close its doors in 2014 after a new nursing home with 156 beds is opened. The new facility will be named The Cottages at Garden Grove and will take many of Rosewood Heights’ current residents. The Cottages at Garden Grove will be an 18-acre site owned by Mandorla Gardens Housing Development Fund Co. Plaza Nursing Home Co., the owner of Rosewood Heights, is a member of Mandorla. The residents will be spread through twelve one story houses built on the site.
According to city documents, the Rosewood Heights building will be purchased by Bill Reckmeyer, a developer who currently owns five apartment buildings that house 270 people, most of whom are college students. In addition to being converted into 94 apartments, the Rosewood Heights building will also house a restaurant, a management office and storage space. Reckmeyer’s attorney told city officials that most of the tenants will be college students.
Although the price of the sale was not disclosed, the building was assessed by the city at $14.4 million.
Website Resource: Troubled Rosewood Heights nursing home in Syracuse to be turned into apartments, syracuse.com, Rick Moriarty, November 19, 2013
