North Shore-LIJ, Bristal partner for new memory-loss facility

Noah Manskar

The company behind the nine Long Island Bristal Assisted Living facilities, including one in North Hills, is going ahead with plans for a first-of-its-kind project in Lake Success.

In a partnership with the North Shore-LIJ Health System, the Engel Burman Group’s 10th Bristal home will be dedicated to caring for seniors with dementia and other memory-loss diseases in a setting that allows doctors from Feinstein Institute for Medical Research to work toward cures for those diseases.

“It’ll be the first time that a facility like this has had scientists, day in and day out, living with the people to work with exercise, nutrition, mental acuity,” Engel Burman Group President Jan Burman said.

Engel Burman plans to build a $33.5 million, 90,000 square-foot facility on a 2.59-acre lot on the North Service Road near the Long Island Expressway in Lake Success, about a quarter-mile from the Feinstein Institute’s home at North Shore University Hospital on Community Drive in Manhasset.

The facility will have 88 units available for seniors with dementia and other memory-loss diseases, Burman said.

There, the Institute’s researchers will work with patients to conduct a couple of studies: one involving strength training exercises, and another involving dance therapy techniques, North Shore-LIJ spokesman Terry Lynam said.

These exercises could be beneficial in slowing down the effects of dementia and other memory diseases, and the researchers will “measure their impact on the functional abilities of the participants,” Lynam said. The Feinstein Institute will also launch a similar pilot program in another Bristal facility early next year.

“Putting together a research program to follow those patients helps out researchers get a better handle on what is and what is not effective,” he said.

The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency approved a tax break package last week for the project, which is expected to have a $29 million economic benefit to the county and create $4 million in additional taxes.

The package includes a 15-year agreement for payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, totaling $6,737,765. The plan freezes property tax rates for the first five years and then increases them by 1.66 percent each year for the following 10 years.

Engel Burman can also claim up to $246,750 in mortgage recording tax exemptions and $1,434,872 in sales tax exemptions for the facility.

The company plans to hire 45 new full-time employees once the project is complete, and the two-year building period will create 150 construction jobs, according to officials.

IDA Executive Director Joseph Kearney said the project is “one of a kind” in the county and will “render an enormous benefit to an affected population that is, frankly, our parents, our brothers and our sisters.”

The project came with the endorsement of former state Sen. Charles Fuschillo, who is now the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s president and CEO.

In a letter to Kearney, Fuschillo said there are currently 50,000 people on Long Island living with Alzheimer’s disease, and the new Bristal facility will provide “an important service” to those in Nassau County.

“At a time when all generations need both support and options, The Bristal at Lake Success will be an invaluable resource,” Fuschillo said in the letter.

The IDA also gave Engel Burman a 10-year PILOT agreement for its North Hills Bristal facility in December 2002. It applied twice for a 10-year extension of the PILOT in December 2012 and January 2013, but the IDA denied both applications after public opposition from local officials and the Herricks and Great Neck school districts concerned about the loss of property tax revenue.

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