By Matt Glynn, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
Jun. 26–Eleven nursing home facilities that operate under The Waters name have new ownership.
A California-based buyer, the ARBA Group, completed buying the properties from East Aurora-based Park Associates after receiving approval from the state Health Department.
The ARBA Group signed a purchase agreement for the properties two years ago but needed to go through a rigorous process with the state before it could formally acquire them.
Officials take into account financial feasibility, the needs of the community, and the character and competence of the new owners, said Jeffrey Hammond, a Health Department spokesman.
Four of the properties, located in Orchard Park, East Aurora, Eden and Gasport, were sold for a combined total of about $51.5 million, according to state Health Department records.
The other seven properties are in Allegany, Dunkirk, Endicott, Houghton, Salamanca, Painted Post and Westfield.
The 11 facilities combined have more than 1,300 certified beds, according to state Health Department data.
While ARBA Group, led by Ira Smedra, has bought the properties, it will use a New York state company to operate them, Park Associates said.
The new owner was required to obtain a “certificate of need” from the state before the sale could be completed. Such a process applies to all health care facilities that propose construction, acquire major medical equipment or add services, state officials said.
State Health Department records say the certificates for The Waters facilities were approved for the Absolut Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation LLC in late March.
Park Associates was formerly led by Neil Chur Sr., who died unexpectedly in January 2005. Chur had built up the company after starting in the industry as the half owner of one nursing home, which was founded by his father in East Aurora.
Smedra could not be reached to comment Monday. In an interview at the time of the purchase agreement, he said he didn’t plan any changes in the employee structure at the facilities, and said he expected his company to own the facilities for a long time.
Charlene Harrington, a nursing home expert at the University of California, San Francisco, said there is a lot of buying and selling occurring in the industry.
The American Health Care Association said the number of patients in certified nursing home beds was 1.4 million this month, down 2 percent from five years earlier. The number of certified nursing facilities was down 4 percent over the same period, to 15,827, the organization said.
—–
To see more of The Buffalo News, N.Y., or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.buffalonews.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Comments