The landlord of the St. Elizabeth Medical Center sued the state over the seizure of prime property

The owner of St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton has followed through on his promise to fight a state takeover of the hospital by eminent domain.

St. Elizabeth LLC, a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, filed a complaint to stop the takeover, arguing that it was unconstitutional, the state offered too little for the property, and that state officials favored another private hospital operator and therefore the takeover did not serve a “public purpose.” , as required by law.

The complaint alleges that the hospital ownership process favored Boston Medical Center, which received St. Elizabeth Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton when hospital operator Steward Health Care filed for bankruptcy.

“The Commonwealth directly or indirectly financed BMC’s acquisition of the hospital or improperly assisted it in maintaining the hospital by allowing it to use the hospital’s property rent-free or at below-market rent,” the complaint said.

Lawyers for Steward LLC also claim in the complaint that they did not stand in the way of the transfer of St. Elizabeth’s to another hospital operator, and wanted to negotiate the sale or lease of the property to the new owner, saying that the state earned an unreasonable $4.5. a million dollar offer on a property valued at $200 million.

Apollo is the mortgage lender for Medical Properties Trust and Macquarie Asset Management, the two companies that owned Steward’s Massachusetts hospital properties. MPT and Macquarie agreed that Apollo would help facilitate the sale of the hospitals during bankruptcy proceedings.

The state is expected spend hundreds of millions of dollars to keep Steward Hospitals running. Much of the funding will come from state hospital assessment fees and federal reimbursements.

The complaint also asks the court to declare the eminent domain proceedings invalid because the governor did not seek legislative approval

The complaint names the state, Healey and state Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh as defendants. The state Health and Human Services Executive said it does not comment on pending litigation.

In August Healy announced that the state will take St. Elizabeth as a prominent property. It also announced deals for other Steward hospitals in Massachusetts: Lawrence General Hospital has taken over both Holy Family Hospital campuses in Haverhill and Methuen, and Rhode Island-based Lifespan System is now the operator of Morton Hospital in Taunton and St. Anne’s in Fall River.