The Danza Group

MIDDLETOWN — Middletown’s Industrial Development Agency has approved a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement for the planned medical college at the former Horton Hospital complex.

The owners would pay no property taxes in 2014. In 2015, they would pay $59,379. The payment would go up by about $60,000 a year, to $831,300 in 2028; after that, it would be taxed at its full assessed value.

Lawyers for the city and for the Danza Leser Group, which owns the property, are reviewing the PILOT agreement now, Mayor Joe DeStefano said. The Danza Group plans to convert the property, which was a hospital from 1929 until it closed in 2011, into an osteopathic medical school that would be run by Touro College and would, when it is done, bring hundreds of medical students to Middletown who would train at area hospitals. There would be other, associated uses there too — an assisted living facility, medical offices and dormitory housing for students and faculty. The PILOT only applies to the proposed use, DeStefano said — if the college isn’t built or the property is used for something else, the PILOT wouldn’t apply, and if the property were to be sub-divided, the PILOT would only apply to these medical/educational uses.

The money would be divided between the city, school district, Orange County and the Middletown Thrall Library.

The hospital was tax-exempt, DeStefano said, so this would be the first time the property has paid taxes in many decades. DeStefano said he is more focused on the benefits of the project — it is expected to generate hundreds of jobs and will, its backers hope, draw more doctors to an area that doesn’t have enough of them.

“It’ll change the character of the community, I believe, and health-care delivery for the whole region,” he said. “There are so many benefits to it. … The money was the least of our concerns.”

nbrown@th-record.com

MIDDLETOWN — Touro College officials, the developer, local politicians and others on Thursday announced progress on an osteopathic medical school project for the former Horton Hospital campus that will create hundreds of jobs and bring hundreds of doctors to the mid-Hudson region.

Renovation to the former hospital will start within the next 90 days, said Touro College President Alan Kadish, and the college’s grand opening is planned for August 2014.

They have already received a number of approvals they need from the city, including a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement; now, they’re waiting for some educational approvals, which Kadish said he expects to get in the next six months.

“Touro College, welcome to Orange County, welcome to the community,” county Executive Ed Diana said. “We open our doors to you.”

The medical school has been in the works for several years, since Orange Regional Medical Center moved forward with its plans to close Horton in Middletown and Arden Hill Hospital in Goshen and consolidate them in a new hospital in the Town of Wallkill. When fully operational, the college would enroll more than 500 students yearly, whose spending would help generate a $55 million yearly economic impact for Middletown and the surrounding communities.

“It’s a very exciting day in the City of Middletown,” Mayor Joe DeStefano said.

Part of the campus may also be dedicated to other health-science related schools; as well as the osteopathic school itself, plans include dormitory housing, medical offices and an assisted-living facility.

New York-based Touro would enter into a long-term lease with the property’s owner, the Danza Lesser Group, and invest $24 million initially to renovate the former hospital. The project also got a $1 million state grant in December. About 800 jobs are expected in the county from the medical school project.

DeStefano said the project is expected to create 150 construction jobs in Year 1; more than 400 faculty and administrative jobs in Year 2; 27 hospital administrative jobs in Year 3; and 344 residencies at local hospitals in Year 4.

Statistically, many doctors stay in the area where they train, and the school’s backers hope it will drastically increase the number of doctors in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills, areas that don’t have enough of them, and thus increase the region’s overall health. Some parts of the Catskills have some of the poorest health indicators in the state.

“This is the right project with the right school at the right location at the right time,” said Ron Israelski, director of medical education at Orange Regional Medical Center, who has been heavily involved in making the project a reality.

“The man who made it work was you,” DeStefano told him.

Tony Danza, one of the owners of Danza Lesser, said he wants to put two plaques in the school’s center court — one commemorating its history from 1924, when the Horton family developed an orphanage that soon became a hospital that served Middletown for decades, and one commemorating the people who made the medical school possible.

“Under it all is real estate, and there’s a lot of history here I don’t want to lose,” he said.

nbrown@th-record.com

by Hamodia

Plans were announced today that would revitalize the long-vacant Horton Hospital complex in Middletown, New York, turning it into a regional medical and educational center anchored by Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TouroCOM), an affiliate of the New York City-based Touro College and University System. The final approval process for the new school is presently under way.

When fully operational, the new medical school would enroll more than 500 students and occupy up to 110,000 square feet of space in the complex. In addition to the medical school, a portion of the space may be devoted to other health science- related schools.

Touro would enter into a long-term lease with the property’s owner, The Danza Leser Group, and would invest $24 million in renovating the facility. Boosted by $1 million from the State of New York’s Regional Council Program, the initiative would create some 800 jobs.

“Expanding Touro’s College of Osteopathic Medicine in the former Horton Hospital site would offer a rare opportunity to meaningfully improve the health-care and educational systems and provide an economic boost to an underserved area of New York State,” said Dr. Alan Kadish, president and CEO of Touro College and University System. “This planned extension of TouroCOM’s main campus would help ensure that the Hudson Valley and Catskill regions have enough physicians to meet growing needs in the coming decades.”

Currently located on Harlem’s 125th Street, TouroCOM would offer a fouryear degree program for physicians at the new campus, the school’s largest-ever expansion. TouroCOM is also considering training physical and occupational therapists, nurses and pharmacists at the site.

“We pursued this property because we understand the increasing need for medical services in this area,” said Tony Danza, a partner in The Danza Leser Group. Danza said the company had been working on a medical-school concept for this location since 2008.

In addition to the TouroCOM expansion, Danza Leser would develop 250 housing units for students and faculty. The developer is also in talks to include a 200-student school operated by Allied Health and an assisted-living facility in the complex. The project is projected to generate $275 million in economic activity.

“Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine would provide our residents with quality health options while adding much-needed jobs to our region,” said Orange County Executive Edward A. Diana. “I welcome them to our county and look forward to their success in our community.”

“The health indicators for our region are as bad as the worst places in the United States,” said Dr. Ron Israelski, a prominent physician in Orange County who helped make this medical school possible. “So in addition to the national trend that we need more doctors for an aging population, we need more schools for doctors. With TouroCOM, we address local needs for good health and quality higher education while giving a boost to the region’s economy.”

“Our approach to medical education is strongly connected to community service and community engagement,” said TouroCOM dean Dr. Robert Goldberg. “We look forward to working in close cooperation with a broad spectrum of local constituencies to make long-term improvements in health outcomes throughout the region.”

“Osteopathic medicine places special emphasis on teaching and learning in the areas of primary care, and adopts a holistic approach to the patient,” said Dr. Jay Sexter, CEO of TouroCOM. “Medical students nationwide are increasingly turning to osteopathic medicine because of its capacity to enhance the healing process. The Hudson Valley region would reap the benefits.”

Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano said the project would have a huge impact on the Hudson Valley. “They would be bringing a very significant project to our city,” DeStefano said. “This would be one of the largest projects in this region in decades. Just like the rest of the nation, our community has struggled for years. This project would transform the area.”

The Touro College and University System is one of the largest health-care educational systems in the nation, offering a wide array of degree programs in medical and health sciences fields.

In addition to colleges of osteopathic medicine in New York City and the one announced today in Middletown, the Touro system also includes colleges of osteopathic medicine in Nevada and California. Touro has colleges of pharmacy in both New York and California, as well as graduate and undergraduate schools of health sciences on Long Island and in Manhattan, Nevada and California.

Together with New York Medical College, the Touro College and University System educates approximately 5,300 health sciences students annually.

According to the 2010 census, Middletown’s population is 28,086. Middletown and its outlying communities have several community colleges and high schools.

About the Touro College and University System

Touro is a system of Jewish-sponsored nonprofit institutions of higher and professional education. Touro College was chartered in 1970 primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage and to serve the larger American community. Approximately 19,000 students are currently enrolled in its various schools and divisions.

Touro College has branch campuses, locations and instructional sites in the New York area, as well as branch campuses and programs in Berlin, Jerusalem, Moscow, Paris, and Florida. Touro University California and its Nevada branch campus, as well as Touro College Los Angeles and Touro University Worldwide, are separately accredited institutions within the Touro College and University System. For further information on Touro College, please go to http://www.touro.edu/media/.

Jacobowitz and Gubits congratulates our client, Tony Danza of Danza Lesser Group, on the news that he has received funding, tax incentives and the land use approvals necessary to repurpose one of Orange County’s most historic health care facilities, Horton Hospital in Middletown, New York, as an osteopathic medical school.  When Orange Regional Medical Center closed Horton Hospital and opened a new state-of-the-art facility in Middletown, Mr. Danza saw an opportunity, acquired the Horton Hospital complex and set about realizing his vision: to provide the region with a fully accredited medical school training doctors, many of whom will remain in the area after graduation.

Mr. Danza is also pursuing related health care facilities such as skilled nursing and assisted living, and dormitories. The development is expected to dramatically improve health care in the region as far as Sullivan, Columbia and Greene counties, reducing the exodus of both residents and trained doctors from the Hudson Valley. The school will also help transform ORMC into a university hospital, bringing great economic and health benefits.

The January 10, 2013 news conference held at Horton Hospital represents the culmination of years of tireless work by Mr. Danza with state and local actors who could help him realize his vision for the abandoned hospital, including Dr. Ron Israelski, an orthopedic surgeon who is director of medical education at Orange Regional Medical Center, Touro College, which will run the medical school, Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano and the City’s Industrial Development Agency (IDA).  The news conference also marked the beginning of the physical work necessary to make the medical school a reality, including renovating the buildings for the grand opening slated for August, 2014.

Jacobowitz and Gubits was grateful for the opportunity to help Mr. Danza bring this important project to the City of Middletown, Orange County and the broader region.  Our legal team represented the Danza Lesser Group during the Horton Hospital real estate transaction, before the City of Middletown Planning Board in order to secure the necessary land use approvals, and before the Middletown IDA to secure the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, among other agreements.  We are proud of our contribution to the literal and figurative health of the region and look forward to continuing our work on this worthy project.

GARY M. SCHUSTER, ESQ.
Senior Counsel
Jacobowitz & Gubits, LLP
158 Orange Avenue
Post Office Box 367
Walden, New York  12586

Phone:  845-778-2121 Ext. 230
Fax: (845) 778-5173
Cell: (845) 242-0430
Email:  gms@jacobowitz.com
Website:  www.jacobowitz.com
Twitter: @GaryMSchuster

Cumberland Mall anchor store to generate over 900 kWh

Construction began recently in Vineland on a $4 million, 962 kilowatt solar array that will span the roof of one of the nation’s last family-owned department stores, an official with Danza Energy Group said today.

Solar Array

“This will be great for Boscov’s at Cumberland Mall,” said A.J. Danza, CEO of The Danza Group. “Boscov’s is thinking forward, and this installation is a testament to the management of the company. Boscov’s once again is one of the first in his industry to take this type of step forward to help the environment, and should be commended.

Construction on the array began in May, Danza said, by IPP Solar of New York. The project is slated to finish in mid-July.

“In all,” Danza said, “the solar array will cover about 100,000 square feet on the roof of the Boscov’s building.” Danza said the system weighs about six pounds per square foot, and that the entire array weighs about 600,000 pounds.

But there’s a lot of energy packed into that square footage, said Paul Jeun, co-founder of IPP solar. “The average home uses about 5 kilowatts of energy per year,” he said. “This array is rated at more than 900 kilowatts – or enough to power about 190 homes for a year.”

Robert Romano, mayor of Vineland, said that his city is leading the way with solar projects in the state. “We’re the only municipality in New Jersey that generates electricity,” the mayor said. “And Vineland is a huge supporter of solar power. We’re a go-green city.”

Romano said the solar array has had a positive impact on Vineland. “It’s great for the city, and it’s great for Boscov’s,” he said. “And we were happy to help it get approved for the city.”

The Danza Energy Group is a division of The Danza Group and worked as a consultant, along with IPP Solar and Nick Acevedo Esq. of Erie law Center and Boscov’s to make this project a reality. Danza said Without the efforts of all involved a project like this would not come together. Vineland is located in one of the poorest counties in the state. Yet the City and its leadership from the Mayor’s office to the City Council and Sandy Forosisky of the Economic Development Office . And the help of Sen. Jeff Van Drew, Continues to be a leader in the state in many areas and a project of this kind is proof of that statement .
For More information about The Danza Group visit www.TheDanzaGroup.com.

IPP solar is a solar power company that develops, finances, owns and operates solar power systems for commercial, industrial and utility scale users.

Read full article here:

http://cicnysb.firstdaystory.com/atf.php?sid=980&current_edition=2009-01-01