The fate of a new Brooks-TLC hospital location in Western New York looks to be clearer as local authorities in Dunkirk appear increasingly resigned to losing out to a new facility in next door Fredonia, according to a Jan. 24 report in The Post-Journal.
With negotiations going on now for six months, the report said, a meeting scheduled for Jan. 24 between the Dunkirk Local Development Corp. and Dunkirk-based Brooks-TLC Hospital System appears likely to conclude the hospital would be better placed at the new Fredonia site rather than redevelop the current one in Dunkirk. If that plan goes forward, Dunkirk Local Development Corp. will take over the former hospital site.
"While I lament the hospital's move, I intend to move forward to support the state funding for a new hospital and deliver the promised redevelopment and renewal of the hospital site for our city," Dunkirk Mayor Wilfred Rosas said in the report.
Approximately $79 million of state funding is set aside for a new hospital, according to the report.
Brooks-TLC, which has also sold the former Lakeshore Hospital in nearby Irving to a private developer, hired a new CEO, Kenneth Morris, in July. In addition to the hospital, the system operates other local outpatient services and chemical dependency centers.