PIERCE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A half-built nursing home that had become a notorious eyesore in Pierce Township after its former owner, Harold Sosna, was sent to prison for bank fraud, will finally be completed under new ownership.
Crews halted work in June 2020 on what was supposed to be a 113-bed nursing home known as the Amelia Care Center. They left the structure frozen in mid-construction after court records show they hadn't been paid.
Months later, the owner of the nursing home company that was building it, Sosna, pleaded guilty to bank fraud, admitting to a $59 million check-kiting scheme.
“It’s frustrating. This has been here for four or five years now in roughly this condition,” said Pierce Township Trustee Allen Freeman, who said residents gave the site the nickname of ‘Purple Monster,’ because of the color of the exposed drywall.
Pierce Township inherited the problematic site in 2020 when it absorbed land that had been part of the Village of Amelia after residents voted to dissolve the hamlet. Before then, Amelia officials created an energy special improvement district and assessments to allow the nursing home to be financed through bonds.
Sosna, 72, was a well-known figure locally. He founded Premier Health Care Management in 1998, which was based in Blue Ash. He grew the family business until it owned nine post-acute and long-term care facilities, including seven in the Cincinnati area.
The business began to falter in 2017, due to a series of regulatory and economic conditions. By 2019, the financial situation was dire. He took out high-interest loans from payday lenders, according to his court filings.
"The onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was the last straw for the viability of Premier, and ultimately broke its financial back … Mr. Sosna made the tragic decision to use the ‘float’ at his business’ multiple banks. He chose to engage in the crime of check-kiting in an effort to extend the life of his doomed family business,” Sosna’s attorney, Stephen Stallings, wrote in a 2020 sentencing memorandum.
Sosna admitted to check-kiting or manipulating his bank balances to take advantage of the float.
“He cheated community banks in western Pennsylvania and Ohio of an astounding sum — $59 million. Sosna is responsible for the largest bank fraud scheme ever prosecuted in our district,” said then U.S. Attorney Stephen Kaufman, who led Sosna’s prosecution from the Western District of Pennsylvania, in an October 2021 press release.
As Sosna’s scheme unraveled, he faced dozens of lawsuits, including some from local banks and creditors accusing him of breach of contract, unpaid rent, and defaulting on loans.
Banks fought over the remaining money from some nursing home accounts in court.
Judges appointed receivers who sold the properties, including Beechwood Terrace, Kenwood Terrace Health Care Center, Ivy Woods Care Center, Madeira Health Care Center, Pleasant Ridge Care Center, and Southbrook Health Care Center in Springfield.
But one property — the partially constructed nursing home in Pierce Township — did not attract a buyer for years, as residents frequently complained to Freeman.
“They’re wondering why this isn’t moving forward … What is the holdup? Why is this mess still in our township?” Freeman said. “The only thing I can tell them is it's going through the court process, we’re doing everything we can.”
The dilapidated site attracted turkey vultures who roosted inside the roofless building, and teenagers who sprayed graffiti on the outside walls.
In 2023, township trustees declared the site so unsafe and blighted that it must be demolished. The township did not pursue its nuisance complaint further because the property was under the authority of a court-appointed receiver.
“I think it’s been a big development barrier,” Freeman said. “There are a number of acres around here that are developable … but they have to look at this in their backyard.”
After years of marketing the property with no purchase offers, a second court-appointed receiver finally found an interested buyer late last year.
Foundations Health Solutions, a nursing home company based near Cleveland, agreed to purchase the 11.9-acre tract of land with the half-built structure for $365,000 in August 2024, and a Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas judge later approved the sale, according to court filings.
“Finally, we have a new owner and a new lease on life for this property … it’s a $25 to $28 million investment in Pierce Township, so that’s exciting,” Freeman said. “Our zoning is complete, all of our permitting is done, and now the county has the construction permits and is working through them.”
A new 120-bed nursing home, named Amelia Meadows, is set to open in late 2026. It will bring 150 jobs to the area.
“Amenities will be all private rooms, long- and short-term care with skilled nursing, physical, occupational, and speech therapies. Ventilator/respiratory unit and in-house dialysis,” according to Foundations' director of business development Melissa Benge in an email to WCPO.
Meanwhile, Sosna was released from prison after serving 15 months of his 42-month sentence, and is now asking U.S. District Court Judge Matthew McFarland to end his three-year probation a year early.
“Since his release, Mr. Sosna has complied fully with all terms of supervision, including treatment programs, financial reporting, and restitution participation. He was self-employed as a business coach for 13 months, has since retired, and continues to honor his obligations,” wrote attorney Herbert Haas in the motion for early termination.
As of June 2, Sosna still owes $58,864,213 in restitution after repaying $4,371, according to court records.
Sosna is enrolled in the Treasury Offset Program, which automatically deducts a portion of his monthly Social Security payment and applies it directly to his restitution obligation, Haas wrote.
He filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in December 2023. Fifth Third Bank assumed ownership of Sosna's seven-bedroom house in Montgomery in May through a sheriff's deed. The house is valued at $4.9 million and has a pool, tennis court, stone patio, greenhouse, and a 7,000-square-foot basement, according to Hamilton County auditor records.
Sosna did not return a request for comment made through his attorney.
“He’s walking around as a free person, and we’re still trying to get this (nursing home) finished,” said Freeman.
