Former County Nursing Home to Be Drug Treatment Center

The former John J. Foley nursing facility in Yaphank. Robert Chartuk

Sitting idle after it was sold off by a cash-strapped county more than a decade ago, the former John J. Foley nursing home in Yaphank has a new owner, who plans to open an inpatient drug treatment and rehabilitation center in the five-story building.

Manhattan real estate investment firm Empire Equities Capital is moving to purchase the 170,000-square-foot building for $7.6 million from its current owner, NYU Langone Health, according to reports. Langone had merged with Brookhaven Memorial Hospital, which bought the 264-bed complex from Suffolk in 2016 for $15 million.

Plans to cease county nursing home operations and cash out on the property date back to the administration of former county Executive Steve Levy, who negotiated a deal with a Bronx nursing home operator to sell the facility for $36 million. Suffolk’s Association of Municipal Employees, which represented workers at Foley, and residents successfully lobbied to keep the home in operation, arguing it was a last resort for many elderly residents and cost-effective for the county to have its own facility.

Levy’s successor, Steve Bellone, cut a deal to sell the property in 2012 for $23 million, but that plan also fell through. Shortly after, the county closed the home, and it has been vacant ever since.

“Actions regarding the nursing home should be taught as a test case in political malpractice,” Levy said upon learning of the sale. “We were losing $12 million a year because of crazy rules, contracts and inefficiencies. All of those people could’ve gotten equal, if not better service, from a private provider had the legislature not blocked the sale,” Levy said, noting that the $36 million infusion would have alleviated millions in county debt. “In total, their actions cost taxpayers over $100 million for no good reason other than to placate legislators who were totally beholden to the union that refused to compromise.”

Under the current plan, the new operators will provide live-in treatment for up to 800 victims of Long Island's opioid and fentanyl crisis, helping them get free of their addictions and readjust to society. The property is already zoned as a health facility, but the new owner will require building and other permits from Brookhaven Town to operate.

“We do need treatment beds in this county,” said Brookhaven Supervisor Edward Romaine, the county executive-elect. “Unfortunately, we have a lot of people addicted, or dealing with addiction, that are in need of these services. This facility will provide them that. I'm hoping that it's run properly. We’re going to keep an eye on it.”

The facility was named for Foley, a former Suffolk legislator and senior citizen advocate.