Controversial nursing home operator sells property in Far Rockaway

Controversial nursing home mogul Ben Landa is in the news again, this time for selling a Far Rockaway facility for a big profit.

According to Commercial Observer, the chief executive of Sentosa Care has sold the 183-bed facility at 22-41 New Haven Avenue in Queens for $47.3 million, a deal that equates to more than $258,000 per bed.

The nursing home’s buyer was a limited liability company with ties to nursing home operators Robert and Norman Rausman, who are partners in other facilities including the Northern Manhattan Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in East Harlem and Manhattanville Healthcare Center in the Bronx.

Jeffrey Begg and Joe Schiff of Forest Healthcare Properties brokered the Randa deal; the Rousemans did not use a middleman.

Randa purchased the 49,000-square-foot facility for just $3 million through his New Surfside Realty platform in 2016. He and Robert Breyer acquired the four-story property together, with each retaining a 50 percent ownership interest.

Landa’s for-profit nursing home portfolio, which once encompassed at least two dozen properties, has also had its share of bad news.

Landa was one of several people convicted in March of neglecting patients at Cold Spring Hills nursing home on Long Island. He also allegedly misled state officials about financing the purchase of the facility. He must pay $500,000 in restitution and was required to install an independent regulator to oversee the facility’s operations.

The facility has also been the site of a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who claims that its owners, including Brooklyn real estate investors Avi Phillipson and his father, Bent Phillipson, misappropriated government funds and caused severe understaffing and neglect of residents.

According to a ProPublica investigation published in 2015, Sensata had previously been hit with 20 federal fines for poor medical practice.

— Holden Walter Warner

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