Nonprofit nursing home in West Philly is being sold to New Jersey for-profit operator
St. Ignatius Nursing & Rehab Center is one of the few remaining nonprofit nursing homes in the Philadelphia region that is not part of a continuing care retirement community.
The Felician Sisters of North America on Tuesday announced that they have reached agreement to sell their West Philadelphia nursing home, St. Ignatius Nursing & Rehab Center, to Allaire Health Services of Freehold, N.J.
That Roman Catholic order of nuns, also based in New Jersey, did not disclose the price for the 176-bed facility, one of the region’s last freestanding nonprofit nursing homes. The sale is expected to close in the spring. The nursing home, opened in 1952, will be renamed West Park Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.
Founded in Poland in 1855, the Felician Sisters will continue serving West Philadelphia. Their services will be called St. Ignatius Community Services after the sale, St. Ignatius Board Chair Sister Patricia Talone said in a news release. Allaire is expected to retain the nursing home’s 144 employees.
“Beyond sustaining the long-term mission of St. Ignatius, it positions the Felician Sisters’ ministry to address a multitude of other local needs that the chronic financial strain of operating the nursing home has kept them from tackling.”
St. Ignatius has had operating losses for five straight years, according to SNFData.com, which compiles data from federal cost reports. The latest state Medicaid report, for the year ended June 30, 2022, showed that the occupancy rate at St. Ignatius was 56%, which means many of its beds were empty much of the time.
Despite the nursing home losses, the Felician Sisters have been expanding into affordable housing for seniors on its campus at the intersection of Haverford Avenue and North 44th Street. It now has 181 units of affordable housing.
Benjamin Kurland, the owner of Allaire, has been rapidly expanding his company since founding it in 2015. Among his recent acquisitions was Jefferson Health’s nursing home at its Washington Township campus in South Jersey.
In addition to the former Jefferson site, Allaire has seven nursing homes in New Jersey, four in Pennsylvania, two in Florida, and one in Vermont, according to the company’s web site.