Levy: Foley buyer won't get back deposit
The John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility in Yaphank. Credit: Newsday/Bill Davis
The Levy administration said Monday that it will refuse to return the $1.8-million deposit from the prospective buyer of the county's 264-bed Yaphank nursing home and called efforts to cancel the $36-million sale "without legal force."
Buyer Kenneth Rozenberg wrote the county last week to back out of his agreement to buy the John J. Foley Skilled Nursing Facility and ask for the deposit, plus interest.
Mark Smith, a spokesman for County Executive Steve Levy, said, "The county attorney will be notifying Mr. Rozenberg we will not be returning the deposit."
Howard Fensterman, Rozenberg's attorney, said, "The county is in breach of contract and the buyer will be prosecuting for all remedies to recover the deposit."
Levy, in a statement, said, "We consider Mr. Rozenberg's failure to follow through on the purchase to be in bad faith as he negotiated with us up to and including the day of the vote for the sale." The county legislature approved the sale March 3.
The cancellation could worsen Suffolk's estimated fiscal shortfalls of as much as $179.5 million this year and next. Without a sale, Levy intends to close the nursing home, even though a temporary court order blocking the closing is still in effect.
The county's special counsel, Joseph Macy, made the contract claims Monday in a letter to State Supreme Court Justice Paul Baisley Jr. Macy is seeking a summary judgment against the still-pending suit that seeks to block the closing of Foley.
"It is Suffolk's position that the . . . attempt to terminate the contract is patently defective, without legal force and effect and itself constitutes an anticipatory breach of contract," Macy said.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
