South Nassau begins razing LBMC properties

Four homes along East State Street are slated for demolition over the next two weeks

Eric Dunetz/Herald

South Nassau Communities Hospital began demolishing residential properties on the Hurricane Sandy-shuttered Long Beach Medical Center campus on Monday, and a number of residents in the area say they are concerned about the construction and what will ultimately become of the properties.

South Nassau started razing four vacant hospital-owned homes on Lincoln Boulevard and East State Street, near the former medical center campus on East Bay Drive. However, the work has yet to include buildings on East Bay Drive or the main hospital buildings, including the west wing, which housed the emergency department.

The abandoned properties slated for demolition were damaged “beyond repair” by Sandy, South Nassau spokesman Damian Becker said. Additionally, a vacant home on the corner of Lincoln and East State, which was destroyed by a fire prior to Sandy, will also be torn down.

“In fact, neighbors have been asking us to do something with it because it’s beyond repair,” Becker said.

The properties are part of LBMC’s assets, acquired by SNCH, which included 5.5 acres of land, buildings and equipment.

The $11.8 million sale of the medical center to South Nassau was finalized in October, after SNCH reached an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the release of nearly $180 million in Sandy aid to SNCH to redevelop health care services in Long Beach — including a free-standing emergency department that would operate 24/7 — and surrounding communities.

The sale did not include LBMC’s Komanoff Center for Geriatric and Rehabilitative Medicine.

The vacant homes being demolished were once rented by LBMC staff or housed administrative offices.

Island Park-based T&D Associates is doing the work, which is expected to be completed the week of Jan. 5. In keeping with the city’s noise ordinance, South Nassau said that the demolition work would begin no earlier than 8 a.m. each day and end at 5 p.m. Demolition of 415 and 425 E. State St. was scheduled to take place from Dec. 22 to 24; 479 E. State St., Dec. 29 to Jan. 2; and a duplex at 758-760 E. State St., the week of Jan. 5.