Within weeks of taking office, Mayor Bill de Blasio proclaimed he had "saved a hospital." Not exactly. Not by a long shot. Ten months later, Cobble Hill's Long Island College Hospital is indeed shut down, and the political-legal-real estate gamesmanship that dragged on interminably ranks as one of the more bizarrely memorable business stories of 2014. Give de Blasio and the neighborhood-union coalition that fought hospital operator SUNY Downstate Medical Center's divestiture this much credit: There will be a lot more health services on the redeveloped site than there would have been without their efforts. But there's nothing like a true hospital, and Fortis Property Group is banking on residential real estate development to make its $240 million purchase worth it.
