The Harborside, a Port Washington retirement home, has come to an agreement with its food service provider to ensure meals are supplied to residents through the end of November after the provider tried to end the arrangement due to outstanding bills, according to court documents.
The Port Washington retirement home, which has filed for bankruptcy three times in the past decade and has nearly 200 residents in fear of losing their homes, owes about $1.2 million to the food service provider Sodexo. The Harborside will pay them $712,982, according to court documents.
This deal would ensure the 181 residents at The Harborside, who are at an average age of 90, receive meals until Nov. 30 when the agreement expires.
After Nov. 30, Sodexo’s contract with The Harborside will end but can be extended on a month-by-month basis so long as payments are made, according to the agreement. An extension would require a pre-payment of of $303,355 and notification before 5 p.m. on the second to last day of the month.
If The Harborside no longer operates the facility prior to Nov. 30, then Sodexo can leave the contract after the dinner service of the last day of their ownership.
The letter was filed in the Eastern District of New York Bankruptcy Court by Sodexo’s attorney, Jennifer A. Christian, on Tuesday.
Sodexo had previously filed to exit the contract due to The Harborside’s unpaid bills to the food service provider.
The contract was originally set to expire in September through the sale of The Harborside to Life Care Services Communities, but that sale did not come to fruition after the state Health Department rejected the approval over information lapses.
The sale of the financially unstable community was awarded to Life Care Services, otherwise known as LCS, in late December after the Des Moines-based company won an auction for the 329-unit development earlier in the year.
The deal was then revoked by LCS in August, according to Newsday, due to prolonged waiting for approvals from the state Health Department and Department of Financial Services.
Nassau County Legislature Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D–Glen Cove) wrote a letter to state Attorney General Letitia James asking her to conduct a forensic audit of the retirement community. She said there may be “more than gross mismanagement at play” and questioned whether it was a Ponzi scheme.
The Harborside, which provides for seniors’ varying care needs, including independent and assisted living, memory care, nursing care, hospice and rehabilitation, filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2023. It was its third filing in nine years.
Harborside residents, their family members, employees and elected officials gathered Oct. 24 to rally for the sale to be honored to protect its 181 residents from having to leave their home and community.
Multiple residents expressed fear of potential eviction, especially couples who live in separate facilities at the Harborside due to medical needs.
