Preparing for a new Jewish Home on the Upper West Side

Jewish Home Lifecare announces proposal to re-build it’s Upper West Side campus

Jewish Home Lifecare recently announced our plan to replace the existing West 106^th Street long-term care/rehabilitation facility with an entirely new campus to be located on West 100^th Street in Park West Village.

Due to the severe economic downturn, we found it impossible to follow our original plan to sell part of our West 106^th Street campus and rebuild a new elder care facility on the remaining property. We entertained proposals from various developers but, given the tight credit market, the only realistic plan for construction of a new Jewish Home on the Upper West Side came from the Chetrit Group.

This proposal includes a “land swap” whereby Jewish Home would build the new nursing home on a vacant parking lot on West 100^th St, and, following completion of that project, Chetrit would take possession of the West 106th Street site. Groundbreaking on the new West 100^th Street site is tentatively scheduled for Fall 2011.

The Chetrit proposal has raised issues and questions among community leaders and elected officials about zoning issues at West 106^th Street. Jewish Home is working closely with the Community Board 7, the elected officials and members of the community to address these concerns. Our goals regarding the West 106^th Street site are to ensure that non-contextual development will never occur while allowing the sale and transfer of the land to proceed in an orderly manner.

To that end, Jewish Home Lifecare has pledged to make application for a re-zoning of the W 106^th St. site to R8A/R8B at the point in time (target date: October 2011) when we take title to the W 100^th St. parcel. It is our hope that that application will be concluded prior to the time (target date: June 2014) when we convey title to W 106^th St.

The timing of these events will occur over a significant period of time. This will allow for positive and constructive discussions with all concerned parties about development plans as well as ways to minimize the impacts of construction upon area residents.

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Why Jewish Home Lifecare must replace the current facility

For over 125 years, Jewish Home Lifecare has served the elders of the Upper West Side and New York with compassion, with innovation and in a way that supports how they want to live their lives. What worked 125 years ago, or 20 years ago, or last year does not work now. Elders change, their needs change and the ways Jewish Home can best support them and their families has changed.

Elders today demand and deserve more privacy, more independence and access to innovative technology that can maximize the richness of their lives. In partnership with dedicated staff and unions, Jewish Home conceived and designed a cutting edge community for caring, supporting elders in an environment that promotes community, dignity and choice.

The Jewish Home Lifecare Manhattan campus — parts of it built in the 1880s — has reached it’s limit in being able to accommodate and change to support the services and care that today’s elders and their families need to live in dignity and independence. In a few years Jewish Home’s financial ability to continue repairing and retrofitting the existing buildings will be exhausted.

Simply stated, the existing campus must be replaced.

Preparing for a new Jewish Home on the Upper West Side

For Jewish Home — a not for profit agency of the UJA Federation, mainly serving those receiving Medicaid and Medicare assistance — the only possible way to finance the building of a new Jewish Home on the Upper West side is by supplementing limited government and charitable funding with the value of its real estate.

The announcement in 2006 of the plans for the 106th Street campus met with considerable opposition from the local community, especially in light of the ongoing re-zoning effort for the Upper West Side.

Jewish Home engaged in extensive discussions regarding these concerns, creating a Community Advisory Board (CAB), composed of community leaders and elected officials to help guide the project and maintain ongoing consultations with the community. A Charette consultation group was established for community input on building exterior appearance. Jewish Home sought and received a “carve out,” from the new zoning rules, retaining the zoning necessary to go forward with the project, while agreeing to building height and setback restrictions more closely conforming to the spirit of the new zoning rules.

Proposal for a new Jewish Home in Park West Village

While not a solution that Jewish Home had anticipated, the Chetrit Group proposal to exchange the entire 106th Street campus and move to Park West Village provided the financial certainty that would allow Jewish Home to proceed with development of a new state of the art facility and meet the current and future needs of elders and their families.

On August 12th the CAB was advised of the preliminary discussions with Chetrit. At the CAB meeting, there was considerable discussion of the plan to move Jewish Home to Park West Village, with a focus on whether Chetrit would benefit from the zoning “carve out” on 106th Street that Jewish Home had earlier negotiated. As requested by the CAB, Jewish Home agreed to seek a legal recommendations as to the possibilities for transitioning the 106th Street site to the new zoning if there is a change of ownership.

Importantly, the Chetrit Group has also acknowledged that they are aware of the significance of the 106th Street zoning issue to the community and is conducting an expedited review of the implications of R8A/R8B zoning. Both the Jewish Home and Chetrit Group reviews will be completed by Friday, September 11.

Again, as part of the transaction with Chetrit Group, Jewish Home will retain ownership of the Kaufman building on 105th Street.

Benefits of the Park West Village plan

The plan to move the new Jewish Home to Park West Village has significant advantages, both for Jewish Home and the Upper West Side community:

Without shape restrictions imposed by the available space for building at 106th Street, the new Jewish Home would be designed from the start as a facility better able to support elders and their families
Elders living at the Jewish Home Manhattan campus would not be affected by construction of the new Jewish Home facility — they would simply move to the new facility at Park West Village when construction was completed
Without the complicated and lengthy construction phasing involved in building on the 106th Street site, while simultaneously continuing to operate the facility and serve clients, construction impact on the 106th Street community would be greatly lessened
Construction on the 106th Street site would not take place until the new Jewish Home was completed on the Park West Village site — a period of at least four years — providing ample time for the surrounding neighborhood to plan and prepare for mitigation of development and construction issues
Elimination of the need for complicated construction phasing while continuing to operate the facility would assure that there would be no need for any staff layoffs, protecting hundreds of union jobs
Because the Park West Village building would have room to accommodate all corporate offices currently housed in the Kaufman building on 105th Street, the entire Kaufman building would become affordable housing, serving current tenants and additional elders
The new Jewish Home building at Park West Village would include gardens, cafes, meeting areas and other public spaces that would be available to our neighbors in Park West Village
The new building would be constructed on what is currently outdoor parking for 108 residents of Park West Village. These 108 spaces would be replaced, at the same rate, by protected indoor parking
The new building would be built to LEED green standards, providing Park West Village and New York with an innovative, environmentally progressive facility

Before construction begins at Park West Village, throughout the construction process and after the new Jewish Home begins operation, Jewish Home is committed to establishing and maintaining a collaborative relationship with the community.

The existing Community Advisory Board would be augmented by Park West Village residents and a Construction Coordinating Council would be created to assure that construction is planned and conducted in consultation with neighbors. Agreements for mitigation of construction impact, a collaborative process with the community on visual design elements and a process for ongoing communication and dispute resolution would be in place before construction went forward. All Jewish Home construction would be performed exclusively by union labor.

Keeping Jewish Home Lifecare on the Upper West Side

Jewish Home Lifecare has served the elders of the Upper West Side for over 125 years. To continue providing the best care and the best life for elders on the Upper West Side and across New York into the 21st century and beyond, it is essential that the Jewish Home Manhattan campus be entirely replaced.

With consultation, collaboration and genuine compromise, Jewish Home Lifecare and the Upper West Side can continue a tradition of commitment to building a vibrant and caring community.

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