5 Women Over 90 Worry About Being Kicked Out Of Brooklyn Assisted Living Facility
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Five women over the age of 90 at a Brooklyn assisted living center are living with an uncertain future.
As CBS2's Brian Conybeare reported, the women – ages 91 to 101 – are being told they have to move because the Brooklyn assisted living facility they have called home for years is closing its doors.
The Prospect Park Residence in Park Slope advertised "the finest in senior living."
But now, Alice Singer, 91, and Anne Marie Mogil, 93, are among the last five seniors left in the once-beautiful prewar building. The dining room is closed, and the walls and ceilings are crumbling.
"This place used to have a lot of people in it," Singer said. "They managed to empty it out."
It turns out the building's owner, developer Haysha Deitsch, has a $30 million deal to turn the assisted living facility into upscale condos. But he has to get everyone out first.
"They'll have to carry me out physically," Singer said.
But while Singer vows to fight, more than 100 residents have already left.
"I'm scared out of my wits about the prospect of having to be relocated," Mogil said.
Mogil moved into the facility in 2013. Three months later, management announced that everyone had 90 days to move out – with its closure plan approved by the New York State Health Department.
That was more than two years and multiple lawsuits ago. The owner of the building refused to answer questions, but a spokesman told CBS2 the facility was losing money, and said the seniors and their families are "seeking to monetize the moment guided by acts of greed and malice."
Singer's daughter said it is not about money, and claimed that the holdouts were even harassed at times with no air conditioning or hot water.
"The person bought it with the intent of just flipping it and making a profit," said Joyce Singer.
Now, a judge will decide what happens next.
"I don't really know where I'm going to go; what I'm going to do, but I really don't want to leave," Alice Singer said. "It's very scary."
