South Nassau plans Wantagh medical annex

South Nassau Communities Hospital is coming to Wantagh. The Oceanside-based medical center will open up an annex on Wantagh Avenue, taking over the lease of a former Verizon building.

Mark Bogen, South Nassau’s chief financial officer, said the remainder of the lease runs for more than a decade on the 60,000-square-foot, four-story building on the west side of Wantagh Avenue, just south of Sunrise Highway. “I hope we’re there for the next 50 years,” he said. “The building itself, it’s in good shape.”

Although plans for how the building will be used haven’t been finalized, Bogen said it would likely be a mix of South Nassau’s back offices and some medical services. There could be some primary and specialty care offered in the building, although he ruled out an urgent care facility, saying the market for those has been saturated. “It’s a question of whether there are more urgent-care centers or Starbucks on Long Island,” he said.

Bogen said that South Nassau, while not actively looking for a building in southeastern Nassau County, does have people who scour the market for potential new locations. When the opportunity came up on Wantagh Avenue, SNCH officials jumped on it. He said that the growing hospital is always in need of more space, and the expansion would make some of its medical services more accessible to residents in Wantagh, Seaford, Massapequa and other neighboring communities.

“We’re very thankful. A property like this doesn’t come up for availability all that often on the South Shore,” Bogen said, noting the size of the building, an abundance of parking and its easy access to highways.

Once a plan is devised for the building, he said, South Nassau will apply for any necessary permits and zoning changes from the Town of Hempstead. Hospital officials will also reach out to community groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce and civic associations, to share its plan.

“We do that whenever we’re investing in a new community,” he said. “It doesn’t do us any good to keep it a secret.”

Chris Brown, president of the Wantagh chamber, said the hospital annex should be a good addition to the community. A building of that size could attract a lot of interest, he said, and not all options are desirable. He sees a medical complex as one of the better alternatives.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for Wantagh and I welcome them here,” Brown said. “I think anybody who has a problem with it is really doing a disservice.”

He added that the addition of South Nassau should be a boon for the local economy. He expects that a fully occupied building would bring people — both employees and patients — to the community who would hopefully spend their money at other businesses.

The addition of the Wantagh annex isn’t South Nassau’s only plan. It will be expanding its main campus in Oceanside, including a larger emergency department, while also building a medical arts pavilion with an emergency room and some specialty health services in Long Beach to replace the hospital there, which was shuttered after Hurricane Sandy.

Bogen said that hospital officials hope to have some offices in the Wantagh building up and running before the end of the year, and he expects all clinical services to be operational sometime in 2017. Over the next several months, plans will be devised.

“This wasn’t a real estate play,” he said of acquiring the building. “We have every interest in occupying it with South Nassau or affiliated organizations. This, to us, is a very important next step.”