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The now-shuttered Hahnemann University Hospital pictured in October 2018.
- Philadelphia city officials have given up trying to get a shuttered private hospital to reopen the facility for coronavirus patients because its asking price is too expensive.
- Hahnemann University Hospital has been asking for up to $31,500 a day to reopen if it were to be used at full capacity to help the city whether its coronavirus crisis, CNBC reported.
- Hospital owner Joel Freedman, a private-equity executive, said his offer was already "substantially below market cost."
- Mayor Jim Kenney of Philadelphia said Thursday: "In the midst of a public health crisis, with the numbers of positive cases increasing daily, we simply do not have the time to continue in a lengthy negotiation."
- City managing director Brian Abernathy also criticized Freedman for looking for a "business transaction" in a time of emergency, according to CNBC.
- Pennsylvania is the 10th worst-affected state in the US so far, with 1,813 reported cases and 18 deaths from the coronavirus as of Friday, according to The Guardian.
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A shuttered private hospital in Philadelphia has been asking up to $31,500 a day to reopen to accommodate the city's coronavirus patients, and talks have reached such a deadlock that the city's mayor said officials "simply do not have the time" to continue negotiating.
City officials have been trying to lease Hahnemann University Hospital for coronavirus patients, but its owner - private-equity executive Joel Freedman - has been asking for up to $31,500 a day in fees, CNBC reported, citing city managing director Brian Abernathy. The hospital officially shut in September 2019.
Mayor Jim Kenney of Philadelphia told a Thursday press conference: "In the midst of a public health crisis, with the numbers of positive cases increasing daily, we simply do not have the time to continue in a lengthy negotiation," according NBC Philadelphia.
"We are done, we are moving on," he also said, according to Philadelphia Business Journal.
The city has been searching for new medical facilities in anticipation of a growth in coronavirus cases. The state of Pennsylvania is the 10th worst-affected in the US so far, with 1,813 reported cases and 18 deaths from the coronavirus as of Friday, according to The Guardian.
On Thursday, the US surpassed China to become the world's worst-affected country in terms of infection toll.
Mayor Jim Kenney of Philadelphia giving a briefing on the coronavirus crisis on March 24, 2020.
Freedman first offered to sell the hospital building at market cost, which the city could not afford, according to CNBC.
Then on Tuesday, Freedman offered the hospital, which it says has room for 496 beds, to lease on the basis of "a per bed amount of approximately $27 plus operating costs," according to a press release from his company, Broad Street Healthcare Properties.
Kenney said this was too expensive, saying: "The Hahnemann building is vacant, but it is also in a state of disrepair. It has been shuttered for months and has no beds. It would require extensive work in order to make it usable again," according to NBC Philadelphia.
A spokesperson for Freedman later set the price at $70 per room per night, according to CNBC.
If 450 beds were to be occupied over six months, the cost would run to around $31,500 a day, or just under $1 million a month, reported CNBC - a figure Freedman's company argued was "substantially below market cost."
It is "far below the comparable situation in downtown Los Angeles where shuttered St. Vincent Hospital is being rented at $233 per day per bed plus operating costs by the State of California for COVID-19 patients," said Freedman's company press release.
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Hahnemann University Hospital in October 2018.
'He is looking at this as a business transaction'
Abernathy said Freedman was not taking into account the coronavirus emergency in his offer.
"He is looking at this as a business transaction rather than providing an imminent and important need for our city and our residents," Abernathy told CNBC.
Freedman bought Hahnemann University Hospital in early 2018, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. However, business at the hospital was troubled and in June 2019, its parent company filed for bankruptcy. The hospital eventually closed in September that year.
"The owner, Mr. Freedman, was difficult to work with at times when he was the owner of the hospital, and he is still difficult to work with as the owner of the shuttered hospital," added Abernathy, according to CNBC.
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