Cobble Hill's Old Hospital Campus Is Now Several Projects, and Rockrose Holds the Biggest Pieces

Most of Cobble Hill is a settled neighborhood of low-rise brownstones. In this part of Brooklyn, the main diligence question about the house next door is usually its rear extension. The northwest corner of the neighborhood, around Hicks, Henry, Pacific and Amity Streets, works differently. That is the former Long Island College Hospital campus. Twelve years after the hospital closed, the two pieces Fortis Property Group completed are sold out. The rest of the campus has changed hands since 2024, and its new owners have said very little about their plans.

The hospital closed for good on August 30, 2014, after 156 years. Anyone buying near it today is looking at a campus that has gone from one developer's master plan to several owners with separate timelines. The largest of those owners now controls both sides of Pacific Street.

The campus had one plan, then several

Fortis Property Group bought the campus from the State University of New York in 2015 for $240 million, The Real Deal reported. The plan was River Park, which Commercial Observer described as a 1 million-square-foot megaproject covering 4.6 acres at Atlantic Avenue and Hicks Street.

Only part of River Park was built. Fortis finished 5 River Park, a 16-story, 25-unit condominium at 347 Henry Street, in 2019. It also completed the Polhemus Residences and Townhouses along Amity Street, which sit inside and beside the campus's landmarked 1897 clinic building. Both projects have sold out.

The rest of the plan stopped. Fortis demolished a 12-story hospital building at 91 Pacific Street to make room for a 28-story condo tower called 2 River Park. The project stalled in 2019, and in June 2021 Fortis withdrew its plans and lost its construction permits, according to Department of Buildings records cited by Commercial Observer. In 2022, after defaulting on $47.7 million in debt, Fortis handed 91 Pacific and the neighboring 350 Hicks Street to its lender, Madison Realty Capital. Commercial Observer put that transfer at $145.1 million, citing property records. The Brooklyn Eagle reported $141.1 million.

Here is where the campus stands as of October 2026, based on the latest reporting:

The finished buildings are in the first two rows. All three parcels where something could still change are in the last three rows, and their owners have published the least about them.

Why the abandoned rezoning still matters

Fortis's first approach for the campus included a rezoning. That process would have opened the plan to public negotiation over affordable housing, a school and other community benefits. According to The Real Deal, Fortis dropped the rezoning after failing to reach terms with the City Council member at the time. It then pursued a smaller, market-rate project that needed no political approval.

For someone weighing a purchase nearby, the result is a shortage of public checkpoints. Under a rezoning, a neighbor can watch hearings and votes to see what a site will become and roughly when. Commercial Observer notes that Fortis did get through a drawn-out rezoning process at 91 Pacific itself before that site stalled. Without a campus-wide public process, the plan for each remaining parcel can mostly stay with its owner until filings appear. The 2 River Park tower, reported as the planned tallest building in the megaproject, ended with a withdrawal and lost permits recorded by the Department of Buildings, not with a new public review.

The dispute from the original sale is also still open. SUNY sued Fortis for failing to close the second phase of the 2015 deal. Fortis argued that SUNY should have covered costs from construction delays, which Fortis blamed for holding up 2 River Park. In February 2026, The Real Deal reported two active court cases tied to the dispute and said they were not expected to hold up the Rockrose sale.

Rockrose now owns both sides of Pacific Street

When Commercial Observer covered the 91 Pacific purchase in 2024, Rockrose president Justin Elghanayan, who once lived in the neighborhood, said the plans were still under consideration. He also suggested a residential project similar to Rockrose's nearby 180 Remsen Street development. Eighteen months later, Rockrose agreed to buy the full block across the street. Commercial Observer noted that the new block sits "just across the street" from 91 Pacific.

Since the developer named its own reference project, the Remsen Street site in Brooklyn Heights is the best available guide to what Rockrose does with a former institutional campus. Here is what the record shows:

1. Acquisition. Rockrose bought the former St. Francis College site for $160 million in 2023. The college had left the campus in 2021.
2. Program. New York YIMBY reported a $207.6 million project at 158 to 176 Remsen Street. It includes three new buildings plus the office-to-residential conversion and four-story addition of 176 Remsen Street, an individual landmark designated in 2011.
3. Scale. YIMBY reported 747 apartments at 21 stories, with ground-floor retail and a below-grade garage for 131 cars and 375 bikes. SLCE Architects is the architect of record. A September 2026 report on the project's permits put the count at 789 units.
4. Design approach. The renderings show dark, earth-toned brick and warm stone at the bases, corners and cornices, chosen to echo the 111-year-old landmark at the center of the site.
5. Pace. By November 2025, demolition was complete and crews were gutting 176 Remsen for conversion. Completion was expected in early 2029.

Three points carry over to Cobble Hill. First, Rockrose combined demolition and new construction with reuse of the historic building it acquired. The April 2026 filing at 340 Henry Street is listed as a major alteration, which leans toward the reuse side, though no renderings or unit count have been released. Second, Remsen Street was planned as one complex across five parcels between Remsen and Joralemon Streets. Owning both sides of Pacific Street gives Rockrose the option to plan these two parcels together, but nothing published confirms that it will. Third, Remsen Street is expected to take about six years from purchase in 2023 to completion in early 2029. The Cobble Hill block cleared the Attorney General only in February 2026. The Remsen timeline suggests how long a project of this type can take, though it is not a schedule for Pacific Street.

What a buyer nearby can and cannot pin down

An offer on these streets will be made with several things still undisclosed. For the two Rockrose parcels, no one has published whether the apartments will be rentals or condominiums, how many there will be, how tall the 91 Pacific building will be, or when it will open. For 350 Hicks, Sunlight Development has disclosed nothing. In its report on the sale, the Brooklyn Eagle could only point back to Fortis's earlier proposal of two condominium buildings totaling about 150 units.

Some things can be pinned down. The campus's two finished condominiums are complete and sold out, so they won't add new supply. The empty 91 Pacific lot no longer has active permits from the earlier plan. The Polak Pavilion block's first filing describes an alteration of an existing structure. Department of Buildings filings are public, so anyone can check them for new activity at these addresses before and during a transaction.

This also changes how a home's location within Cobble Hill counts in a comparison. Two similar houses a few blocks apart can carry very different risks of nearby change. A house deep in the brownstone blocks borders other brownstones. A house near Hicks and Pacific borders three development sites that changed owners between 2024 and 2026 and have no public design. A finished Rockrose project could bring new retail and new buildings to a corner that has sat partly vacant since 2014. Construction on a site this size could also take years. No one can yet put a date on either outcome.

A short FAQ

Is NYU Langone part of these redevelopment parcels? No. NYU Langone's ambulatory care and emergency center is a separate five-story, 165,000-square-foot building at 70 Atlantic Avenue that opened April 1, 2023. It is not connected to the parcels that have changed hands.

Is the Polak Pavilion going to be demolished? The only filing reported so far, on April 10, 2026, is for a major alteration of about 298,322 square feet at 340 Henry Street, not for new construction. Rockrose has not released renderings or a unit count.

Did the Henry Street park and the school from the original River Park plan happen? No 2025 or 2026 reporting reviewed for this post confirms either one. The school was part of the community benefits sought during the rezoning talks that Fortis abandoned.

Will the new Rockrose buildings be rentals or condos? That has not been disclosed for 91 Pacific Street or for the Henry Street block.

If you own near the former hospital campus or are considering a purchase there, Brennan Global Properties reviews filings on adjacent parcels and assesses how unresolved development may affect a property's value, using the same architectural and entitlement experience it brings to its own conversion work. Schedule a private consultation to go through the record parcel by parcel.