Woodmere Rehab revises its plans

Two years after its initial plans for a new building on Central Avenue met with community 

opposition, the Woodmere Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center has rolled out revised plans for a slightly smaller structure that would still allow the nursing home to offer state-of-the-art facilities.

Woodmere Rehab is now proposing a five-story, 280-bed facility that would be built on 1.46 acres along Central, between Irving and Franklin Places. The six-story parking garage, which was the focus of many concerns about the original plans, presented in early 2008, has been scrapped, and there would instead be two parking lots, with a total of 134 spaces, built on Franklin Place. 

"We listened to the community when we came back with this plan," said Woodmere Rehab Administrator Mitchell Teller at a public forum on the new proposal on March 23 at the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library. 

The $67 million project being developed by 1040 Central Avenue LLC would have fewer beds than the current Woodmere Rehab facility, which has 336. There would be ground-level parking on Franklin Place, at the Five Towns Senior Center and where Broadlieb Motors used to be, two parcels that were purchased by 1040 Central Avenue. The revised plans also include an alleyway that would be built behind the new facility, between Irving and Franklin Places, and used for ambulance pickups and drop-offs as well as truck deliveries. 

"It is going to be a very attractive facility and much better than the one we have now," said Wayne Edwards, an attorney for 1040 Central Avenue. 

Woodmere Rehab has been trying to build a new facility because its current buildings, at 130 Irving Place (built in 1964) and 121 Franklin Place (built in 1973), would need extensive modifications to measure up to state and federal standards for nursing homes.

"Everything that will be built will be state-of-the-art, including some green technologies which we're hoping to bring in as well," said Teller. "There is a time and a place when you ... may need [a nursing home] and if you do, why not have a beautiful facility that everyone can be proud of, that you know is reliable, that is dignified, where people are properly cared for with respect."