Atlantic County is moving forward with plans to auction the county-owned Meadowview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, with two public hearings scheduled this month to provide information about the proposed sale and gather public input.
The first hearing was held on Monday, June 8, at the Stillwater Building in Northfield, and the second one will take place on Wednesday, June 24, at the Atlantic County Institute of Technology (ACIT) in Mays Landing. Representatives from county government will provide an overview of the auction process, describe the facility and explain the criteria for interested bidders.
The hearings are required by state statute before the sale of a county-owned nursing facility can proceed.
Located at 235 Dolphin Ave. in Northfield, Meadowview is a 180-bed long-term care and specialty-care facility that includes a 30-bed Veterans Wing. It is one of only three remaining county-owned and operated nursing homes in New Jersey.
An auction will be held 90 days after the second public hearing with a minimum bid of $23.5 million, according to the county.
Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson said the sale is necessary because the facility has become increasingly expensive for taxpayers to support.
“Really, it was the right time quite a few years ago, but I could not get the cooperation of the Commission Board, and now they realize that we no longer can sustain the amount of losses that the nursing home is costing taxpayers,” Levinson said in an interview.
According to Levinson, the county has absorbed approximately $24 million in losses while operating the facility and can no longer afford to continue doing so.
Levinson noted that when he became county executive there were more than 20 county-run nursing homes throughout New Jersey. Now, there are three.
County officials hoped the NJ Department of Military and Veterans Affairs would have been interested in making it a fourth state-operated veterans’ home, but NJDMVA declined the request.
The Atlantic County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution in December 2025 authorizing the sale of the facility. Levinson said previous attempts to move forward with a sale lacked sufficient support from commissioners.
Levinson said he had advocated for selling Meadowview for several years but previously lacked the support needed from the nine-member Board of Commissioners. While he said earlier proposals received only four votes, the board unanimously approved moving forward with the sale in December 2025.
County officials have repeatedly emphasized that protections for residents and employees will be a requirement of any sale.
“No resident will be displaced. They may remain as long as they wish, including the 30 veterans in our Veterans Wing,” Levinson said in a county statement.
The county is also requiring any successful bidder to provide employees with up to two years of employment at the same or better compensation.
“I have made it clear — and the commissioners agree — that we will not accept any bids that does not include that our staff will be provided for with the present salary or better, and their benefits for two years, also that all the residents that are there also can remain in the facility,” Levinson said. “Before we sell it, the buyer has to guarantee that.”
Levinson said protecting employees and residents remains his top priority, even if it means accepting a lower purchase price.
Beyond employee and resident protections and the purchase price, Levinson said the county is not imposing additional requirements on potential buyers.
He said that there are over a dozen serious inquiries about purchasing the facilities.
Documents related to the auction process are available through Atlantic County. Interested bidders may review facility information before the public hearings.
