Hempstead Town zoning board officials are set to vote Wednesday on Mount Sinai South Nassau’s $35 million proposal to convert a four-story building in Wantagh into a multispecialty medical office.

The project, which has raised opposition from some residents concerning parking and traffic, will go before the Hempstead Board of Appeals during a 3 p.m. hearing, town officials said.

South Nassau officials said they plan to convert a vacant former Verizon office building on Wantagh Avenue into a 60,000-square-foot specialty center for outpatient services and medical lab testing. The health system is looking to expand its care beyond the main hospital in Oceanside.

“We’re just trying to reach the community and provide the best high quality health care we can,” said South Nassau co-chair Joe Fennessy. “A project like this will save lives and get people the care they need that they might not otherwise have gotten.”

Fennessy said the new facility would bring such New York City specialty medicine as cancer care to Long Island. He said it could have helped people like his late brother Thomas Fennessy, who needed care after he was diagnosed with brain cancer after working at Ground Zero following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. All-day appointments can be exhausting for patients and their families while also battling traffic and parking for a single specialist visit, Joe Fennessy said.

The proposed facility also would offer specialists for cardiovascular care, gastrointestinal treatment, orthopedics, rheumatology, neurology, women’s health, laboratory services and radiology. It would include 50 exam and consultation rooms.

Hospital officials are trying to mirror the medical building after Mount Sinai’s pediatric, specialist and lab testing site in Greenlawn. Officials point to similar plans by Northwell in Seaford and an NYU Langone facility in Bethpage.

South Nassau officials said they have support from building labor groups and said the project is expected to create 100 new professional jobs. The health system has held several community meetings with residents and point to support from community leaders including an online petition with more than 1,200 supporters.

Opponents to the project also have a petition with nearly 700 signatures, with residents expressing concerns about lost tax revenue for a tax-exempt property and increased traffic. Attorneys for homeowners declined to comment.

The expansion plan calls for 248 parking spaces at the site and hospital officials said traffic would exit heading south on Wantagh Avenue or north toward Sunrise Highway without passing by homes.

Article: https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/mount-sinai-south-nassau-hospital-expansion-wantagh-bvgwrotq

 

David Peyser Sportswear has secured $41.15 million in refinancing and acquisition financing for its expansion in Bay Shore. 

The company recently embarked on a $33.7 million project to purchase and renovate the 167,729-square-foot industrial building on 7.92 acres at 100 Spence St. and the loan also covers two other properties at 60 Spence St. and 90 Spence St. that the firm owns. 

Altogether, the clothing company occupies 344,201 square feet in its three-building portfolio. 

The purchase of the new building, which was assisted by economic incentives from the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency, allowed the firm to double its operating space, bringing its entire workforce of about 275 people under one roof. 

With its planned expansion, the company pledges to add 50 more jobs within two years and its current $11.4 million payroll is expected to rise to more than $13.4 million. 

The financing was arranged by the Cushman & Wakefield Equity, Debt & Structured Finance team of Preston Flammang and Charles Borrok and the loan was provided by Principal Life. 

“It was a pleasure to arrange the refinancing and acquisition financing of David Peyser Sportswear’s growing Bay Shore industrial portfolio,” Flammang said in a written statement. “We were able to secure a long-term, fixed rate loan and achieve highly competitive financing terms, allowing David Peyser Sportwear to deepen their roots in the Bay Shore community that they have called home for the past 75 years.” 

Founded in 1948 in Bay Shore, where it’s been headquartered for more than 50 years, David Peyser Sportswear owns several apparel brands, including the Weatherproof Garment Company, 32 Degrees, Weatherproof Vintage and Junior Gallery and also holds the outerwear license for TUMI. 

Articlehttps://libn.com/2022/04/22/clothing-firm-gets-41-15m-financing-for-bay-shore-expansion/

Lidl, the German discount supermarket chain, will begin building its first ground-up grocery store development on Long Island next week. 

The chain will invest more than $15 million in the project that will bring a new 32,000-square-foot prototype store to a 5-acre site at 450 Commack Road in Deer Park. 

Lidl signed a ground lease with the development site’s owner Milvado Property Group to accommodate the new store. 

The fast-growing grocery chain currently has more than 20 stores on Long Island, with the bulk of those being remodeled retail spaces that were formerly occupied by Best Market and other supermarkets. Lidl purchased the 27-store Best Market chain in 2018 and has been rebranding most of those locations. 

Lidl will be holding a groundbreaking ceremony at the Deer Park development site at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 27. There will be a food reception after the ceremony showcasing some of the company’s products. 

Lidl partnered with Lauren Rochelle to create a limited-edition reusable shopping bag that will be sold at its stores beginning May 4. All proceeds from the bag sales will be donated to the John Theissen Children’s Foundation. 

The Deer Park Lidl, which will create about 60 jobs, is expected to open in the winter of 2023. 

Ken Schuckman and Jessica Vilmenay of Schuckman Realty represented Lidl and the property owner Milvado in the Deer Park ground lease transaction. 

“We were honored to work with David Hercman of Milvado and the Lidl real estate team to bring this deal to fruition,” Schuckman told LIBN. “Representing Lidl on Long Island, Queens and Brooklyn, we are excited to be a part of assisting the company in their strategic growth in this region. We have a number of deals that we look forward to announcing in the coming months.” 

Article: https://libn.com/2022/04/21/lidl-to-build-its-first-ground-up-store-on-long-island/

Pier 1 Imports’ former Carle Place space is being divvied up for dental care, cake, fitness and scrubs.

Aspen Dental, Nothing Bundt Cakes, fitness studio F45 Training, and health care apparel and accessories store Scrubs & Beyond are among the tenants that will be taking a share of the 15,052-square-foot space that Pier 1 vacated in Glen Plaza, according to AVR Realty Co., the Yonkers-based commercial real estate firm that owns the shopping center.

The four new tenants will move in this fall, AVR Realty said.

The former Pier 1 space, at 216 Glen Cove Rd., is being subdivided for five tenants, but 3,518 square feet remain to be leased, AVR Realty said.

Finding a single replacement to take the entire space that the home décor store vacated in March 2020 wouldn’t have been hard, but it made more sense to subdivide it, AVR Realty spokesman Brian Ferruggiari said.

“We had interest, but in the current marketplace, rents are much higher for smaller spaces. This property lends itself well to subdivide due to the depth” of the building, he said.

Here is the rundown of what is slated for Glen Plaza:

• Aspen Dental will take a 3,500-square-foot end unit, AVR Realty said.

Aspen has more than 950 offices nationwide, including three on Long Island — in Commack, Massapequa and Riverhead. Every Aspen office is independently owned by a licensed dentist.

Dr. Gabriel Iancu will own the Carle Place practice, and is the owner of the three other Aspen practices on Long Island, said Katie Stafford, spokeswoman for The Aspen Group.

“In addition to the practice owner, there will be a lead dentist on staff, as well as hygienists, dental assistants, dental lab technicians and receptionist,” she said.

The Aspen Group, which is based in Chicago, owns the Aspen Dental brand and provides administrative and business support services to the independently owned practices.

• Nothing Bundt Cakes will occupy 2,080 square feet in Glen Plaza, AVR Realty said.

The shop will be a franchise operated by Michael and Carole McVey, Ferruggiari said.

Founded in 1997 in Las Vegas, Nothing Bundt Cakes is a “market leading franchisor and operator of gourmet bakeries offering specialty Bundt cakes,” Roark Capital Group, an Atlanta-based private equity firm, said in a May statement announcing its acquisition of the chain.

The Dallas-based bakery chain has more than 410 U.S. shops, including six in New York State, but none on Long Island, according to its website.

Neither the company nor the franchisees for the Glen Plaza shop responded to Newsday’s requests for comment.

• F45 offers classes, for all fitness levels, of “high-intensity training and … circuit training, so you’re constantly moving to different equipment in the studio during 45-minute sessions,” franchisee Rocky Fonovich said.

The boutique fitness studio franchise will occupy 3,200 square feet in Glen Plaza, AVR Realty said.

“This is going to be my first of three locations for F45,” said Fonovich, who also is eyeing Garden City and Seaford as possibilities.

The Seaford resident, 31, for eight years owned another gym franchise in which he is no longer involved, he said.

Founded in Sydney, Australia, in 2013 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, F45 added a net of 312 new studios in 2021, ending the year with 1,749 in the U.S., Australia and other countries.

There are now 12 on Long Island and four more are planned, including studios in Bellmore, Massapequa and Melville, according to the company’s website.

• Scrubs & Beyond is relocating to Glen Plaza from a store 0.8 miles away on Old Country Road in Carle Place that operates as Life Uniform.

The Life Uniform store is among 13 stores that will be rebranded as Scrubs & Beyond over the next two years, said Kate McClain, spokeswoman for St. Louis-based Scrubs & Beyond LLC.

The Scrubs & Beyond in Glen Plaza will occupy 2,500 square feet.

“Our caregivers work so hard and deserve the best when shopping for their uniforms. With this new location and new branding, we believe we are providing just that, a best in class, superior shopping experience for our caregivers,” McClain said.

The Carle Place store is relocating for multiple reasons, including better parking in Glen Plaza, said Matthew Kucker, who was one of the managing directors in real estate firm Colliers International’s Jericho office who represented the retailer  in leasing.

Scrubs & Beyond operates 113 stores in 30 states. Its one other Long Island store is in Selden.

Pier 1’s Exit

Glen Plaza is a 23,173-square-foot shopping center whose only current tenant is children’s furniture store The Bedroom Source, since Pier 1 closed.

In January 2020, Pier 1 Imports Inc. slated up to 450 stores, including the Carle Place location and seven others on Long Island, for closings.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2020 and announced in May 2020 that it was closing its remaining 541 stores, including the four left on Long Island.

Pier 1’s intellectual property and other assets were sold in a bankruptcy auction in July 2020 and it is now an online-only retailer.

Article: https://www.newsday.com/business/carle-place-glen-plaza-new-stores-ymunu01f

New York City’s office market increasingly resembles the demographics of the nation: a land of haves and have-nots, with a shrinking middle class.

Two years after the pandemic sent white-collar workers home, office buildings across the metro area were only 37 percent occupied, according to March 16 card swipe data from Kastle Systems, a popular index for office use. That includes “trophy” spaces occupied by the big banks that have pushed workers hardest to return. 

Landlords don’t expect them to remain empty much longer. Companies still need dedicated workspace, they say, even if it serves a different purpose — as flexible, refined meeting places rather than 9-to-5 holding pens.

Assuming they are correct, there remains an essential problem: The bulk of Manhattan’s office property is ancient. The unweighted average age of office buildings across the city’s roughly 540 million-square-foot market is now “well over” 100 years, according to Colliers. About 75 percent was built before 1980, and 45 percent was built before World War II.

Age alone isn’t the fundamental issue, according to Ruth Colp-Haber, founder of Wharton Property Advisors and a 30-year veteran Manhattan tenant broker. It’s older buildings’ outdated layouts, features and functionality. With some exceptions, older buildings typically lack the column-free floors, high ceilings, gyms and cafes that tenants want in a workplace.

If tenants are going to commit to a long-term lease, they want that space to be special, Colp-Haber said. And while there are gems among the older stock, preference skews to the new and improved. Landlords either have it or they don’t. 

“We’ve definitely never seen anything like this — even remotely,” Colp-Haber said of current office market conditions. “We’re in the midst of a bear market in commercial real estate in New York, and the Class B buildings are going to be bearing the brunt of it.”

Have-nots to haves

The bifurcation between high- and low-quality space has been going on for years; the work-from-home boom only made the contrast more pronounced. Space that was once passable for companies that maintained large offices will no longer do as those firms redefine, and in most cases moderate, their workplace needs.

Among landlords of “value” properties, there is a belief that one can renovate one’s way into the upper echelon. 

“I don’t see Class B as a business I want to be in,” said Jonathan Bennett, president of AmTrust Realty, which is overhauling 250 Broadway across from City Hall to attract a major tech tenant. “I want to be in the Class A business.” 

Tony Malkin, chair and CEO of Empire State Realty Trust, maintains that the distinction between Class A and Class B has been “erroneously oversimplified,” and has framed his company’s largely Class B portfolio as part of the broader “flight to quality.” 

Well-located, energy-efficient buildings with amenities are “critical in all price ranges,” Malkin said on an earnings call in February.

“We offer office space of these important attributes at rents that are accessible to the broadest population of tenants, not just those who can afford or want to pay triple digits for brand-new buildings,” he added.

New York’s creative industries like publishing and architecture, as well engineering firms and nonprofits, have historically been renters of Class B offices. And in recent years, medical businesses have taken up aging space vacated by typical Class A renters like banks and law firms.

Loft-style Class B space is a draw for tech and other tenants in submarkets like Midtown South, Flatiron and Soho. In those enclaves, demand is booming, according to Duval & Stachenfeld’s Eric Menkes, who represents owners like RXR Realty, Savanna and Jamestown in lease deals at B buildings.

“They’re hitting the ball out of the park right now, and that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the buildings are Class B buildings,” Menkes said, declining to offer specifics on rents. “These buildings are not going back to the bank.”

Pronounced softness in other submarkets, like the Garment District and Midtown, including whole stretches of Third Avenue, suggests Class B stock far outweighs demand. 

The glut of space is due in part to downsizing flex-office companies, which took over much of the languishing lower-tier space as the business model boomed over the last decade, only to see demand evaporate during the pandemic, said Frank Wallach, executive managing director for research and business development at Colliers.

Over the last two years, WeWork, Knotel and similar firms have given back more than 4 million square feet of space, most of it Class B, he said.

“The question is, will there be enough demand in the post-Covid era to fill it up?” Wallach said. “What we’re seeing so far is the Class A and newer property is seeing the results first in the post-pandemic increase in demand.”

A “distraction play”

As tenants upgrade their offices, they are also taking less square footage — a consequence of hybrid work plans and column-free floors’ greater efficiency — causing softness in the market for even lower A-grade space in less central locations. Class A vacancy at year-end (17.9 percent) was higher than Class B vacancy (17.1 percent).

David Goldstein, branch manager of Savills’ New York office, described an ongoing “amenities arms race” among landlords below the top tier. On a recent tour of older buildings in Midtown, he and a prospective tenant played at guessing how many times the agent would say “amenity.”

“Agents are spending more time talking about the amenities of the building than the office space itself, because the office space is not that exciting in a lot of these buildings,” he said.

Goldstein called the tactics a “distraction play.”

“The reality is, a lot of the Class B stock has aged perhaps more quickly than anticipated,” Goldstein said. “Certain buildings just have physical limitations that can’t be overcome.”

For owners that could reposition an outdated property, there remains the issue of financing. Rising interest rates and construction and labor costs have made projects that won’t ultimately command top-dollar rents untenable. Lenders, sensing softness in the market, are hesitant to finance projects whose appeal to prospective tenants may be tenuous. 

A possible future for Manhattan’s obsolescent Class B office buildings can be glimpsed in Lower Manhattan, where developers have converted millions of square feet to residential and hotel use over the last three decades. A similar transformation in Midtown would be challenging given the submarket’s larger floor plates, which are not as well suited for residential repurposing due to fresh air and light requirements, according to architect Mark Ginsberg of Curtis + Ginsberg Architects. 

In the meantime, the central problem is demand, which experts say is markedly lower than it was before 2020 due in part to tenant migration outside New York. 

Some Class B tenants became owners during the pandemic, when money was cheap and pricing made buying more attractive, according to Michael Rudder of Rudder Property Group, which specializes in the conversion and sale of New York office condos.

The company helped convert a “weak” Class B building at 35 West 36th Street to a “creative” office condo building during the pandemic, he said. The project was approved in January 2020 and is now effectively sold out. 

“The whole project was a success,” Rudder said. “Had they done a leasing campaign, I think they would be dead in the water right now.”

Article: https://therealdeal.com/2022/04/14/renovate-or-bust-new-yorks-aging-offices-face-specter-of-obsolescence/?utm_source=internal&utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=feature_posts

Name dropping won’t get you far in the Village of Lindenhurst.

Village officials convinced the commercial real estate firm Fairfield Properties not to rename The Wel apartment building it purchased last month, Mayor Michael Lavorata said. The village expected The Wel’s developer, Tritec Real Estate Co., to hold onto the new residences, but the East Setauket firm was pushed to sell after less than a year by its partner in the project, Lavorata said.

Fairfield Properties’ willingness to abandon the name it originally wanted, Fairfield Metro, shows the company will be good stewards of the 260-unit building steps away from the Lindenhurst Long Island Rail Road station, Lavorata said. The company currently lists the 75 E. Hoffman Ave. building as “Fairfield The Wel at Lindenhurst” on its website. The name pays homage to the 19th century investor Thomas Welwood, whom the misspelled Wellwood Avenue is named after.

“Had they taken the name off, there would have been an uproar,” said Lindenhurst Chamber of Commerce president JoAnn Boettcher. “Some sense of our heritage is still there, our past. It’s not just another company taking it over.”

The $147 million transaction closed on March 24, about 10 months after residents started moving into apartments, Tritec spokesman Christopher Kelly said. Rents ranged from $2,100 to $4,650 a month when the building opened, Kelly said.

Tritec and an affiliate of the investment firm Rockwood Capital indicated they planned to spend $102.64 million on The Wel, including $11.4 million acquiring land, according to a 2018 application filed with the Babylon Industrial Development Agency. The IDA authorized up to $31.2 million in tax benefits over 30 years for the project, which the IDA said will be passed on to Fairfield Properties.

“They were offered a pretty nice profit — 40%,” Lavorata said.

He said the Coughlan brothers who lead Tritec were not initially planning on selling the building, but their partners wanted to move on.

“They rely on someone to assist them with the investment, so I understand why they would do that,” Lavorata said.

The Wel is the largest capital project in village history and its size worried some residents, according to Lavorata, who said he initially had doubts about the project. One of those skeptics, Terence Whelan, called the sale disappointing.

“While I was not in favor of it, I was pleased that it was going to be done by a quality outfit,” said Whelan, a retiree who has lived in the village for more than four decades. “They did build a nice building. They did fill it up, but they’re not here to maintain it like we thought that they had planned on doing.”

Tritec didn’t directly respond when asked about what prompted the sale. Kelly said the company was brought in “to be a catalyst for change in Lindenhurst” — a goal he said the firm achieved.

“The Wel community is not only the center of a newly thriving downtown, but it is 99% leased — proving once again that there is an appetite for high-quality multifamily housing on Long Island,” Kelly wrote in an email, adding that the project helped attract new restaurants and improve the village’s credit rating.

Rockwood Capital didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Fairfield Properties didn’t respond to inquiries about its plans for the Wel, which includes 26 affordable units, a pool, fitness center and roof deck.

Article: https://www.newsday.com/business/fairfield-lindenhurst-the-wel-tritec-j4gm8rg9

The owner of Westfield malls, which includes the South Shore mall in Bay Shore, plans to sell all its properties in the U.S. as pandemic fears have sped changes to how people shop.

Unibail-Rodamco bought Westfield Corp. for nearly $16 billion four years ago. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, as the Paris company is now known, intends to bet its future on Europe, where it is the largest owner of shopping centers.

All 24 U.S. malls are to be sold by 2023, chief executive Jean-Marie Tritant told investors recently.

Tritant didn’t elaborate on whether the Westfield malls might be sold together or individually, and company representatives declined to comment further on the planned property divestment.

The company owns one mall on Long Island, Westfield South Shore in Bay Shore. The company sold Sunrise Mall in Massapequa in 2020 for 20% of its price from 15 years earlier. Built in 1963, Westfield South Shore is now 1.2 million square feet in size. Its anchor stores are Macy’s, JCPenney and Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Unibail’s exit is not a complete surprise. In reporting its 2020 results, Unibail said it would “significantly reduce financial exposure” in the U.S. in the near future.

“We understood there was a desire to get out of the U.S.,” said competitor Sandy Sigal, president of NewMark Merrill Companies, but “they could have kept a couple of trophy assets.”

New ownership might be good for shoppers at some malls, said Sigal. “Real estate really is a local business,” he said, and with local owners “you wind up with tenants more relevant to that community” as well as malls that are physically and socially more reflective of their neighborhoods.

Unibail valued its U.S. malls at about $13.2 billion last year but has not said how much it hopes to get for them now. Real estate analyst Green Street valued them at more than $11.4 billion.

“They are top-quality malls” and should be sought after, said Dirk Aulabaugh, global head of advisory services at Green Street. He said the price of the entire portfolio might be too steep for a single buyer. such as another mall company, though some may try.

Shopping habits have been changing for decades, with conventional malls that sprang up across the country in the latter 20th century losing their once-firm grip on consumers.

Growing online sales have chipped away at mall profits for years, a trend accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco Bay Area real estate consultant David Greensfelder said.

Article: https://www.newsday.com/business/westfield-south-shore-mall-for-sale-m7mf0lqo

Years after the Town of Hempstead approved rezoning to allow for more development in three of its underperforming downtowns, the town board is seeking to impose a year-long moratorium on new projects in those areas. 

The town has scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday, April 26 on the enactment of a building moratorium in the 87-acre Baldwin Mixed-Use Zoning Overlay District as well as other zoning overlay districts covering about 40 acres in Inwood and North Lawrence. 

In a resolution passed on Tuesday, the town board cited concerns that the requisite environmental impact statements conducted to establish the new zoning districts, and previously accepted by the town, failed to take a “hard look” at potential negative impacts on infrastructure, transportation, public safety and special districts. 

The proposed year-long moratorium would give the town board time to consider “potential amendments and/or alternatives” to the zoning districts, according to the resolution, to “insure the health, safety and welfare” of the town’s residents. 

However, residents and business owners in the rezoned areas, some of whom have fought for years to get their downtown areas revitalized, were stunned by the town’s proposed moratorium. 

Darien Ward, president of the Baldwin Civic Association, said he believes the state environmental review completed prior to the Baldwin rezoning was done appropriately for the 87 acres it covered and that the town’s argument is hollow. 

The civic association had sent a letter to the town board last month urging it to establish the Design Review Board, a requirement that the town imposed before new development projects could be approved in the overlay district. 

“Instead of them replying to our letter directly, and trying to be a partner with us, they are trying to go ahead with this moratorium and did not even alert us that this is where their thinking was,” Ward told LIBN. 

Community leaders have been working for decades to try to kick start revitalization efforts in Baldwin’s tired business district. After the overlay zoning district was enacted, the town was awarded a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant from the state in 2019. Now several developers are poised to invest hundreds of millions of dollars on projects aimed at creating rental housing and new commercial space along 1.4 miles of the Grand Avenue corridor that stretches from Merrick Road to Stanton Avenue. 

But advocates say the year-long moratorium sought by the town could derail Baldwin’s comeback. 

Eric Alexander, director of Vision Long Island, which help the Baldwin community create the new zoning, said the effort included input from hundreds of local residents and business owners, town staff and elected officials. 

“This type of planning and local determination has nothing to do with recent efforts in Albany to overrule local zoning and create apartments everywhere without community input,” Alexander said. “What it does do is revitalize and make viable many properties and vacant storefronts that have been hard hit through the pandemic based on the wishes of the community. We hope that any action the Town of Hempstead takes moves the many community and development projects forward that adhere to the code and have been waiting for final approval for a very long time.” 

Erik Mahler, past president of the Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, was a little more blunt in expressing his disappointment with the town’s proposed moratorium.  

“I’ve been involved since 1998 with the same exact nonsense,” Mahler said. “You get close and then the rug is pulled out from under you. We want development, we want building in Baldwin, we are in favor of any and all development in Baldwin.” 

Mahler also questioned the town’s reasoning that the environmental reviews conducted prior to the rezoning were not comprehensive enough. 

“They had a million meetings, engineering firms got paid a lot of money, and I’d imagine they got it done properly,” he said. “There were a lot of engineers and other people working on this.” 

The town’s proposed moratorium would exempt development projects that have already applied to the town and any that have already received permits. However, when asked about which projects would be excluded from the building ban, a town spokesman has yet to respond. 

The moratorium would also put a halt to development in two zoning districts in Inwood and North Lawrence, including the Neighborhood Business Overlay District and the Transit-Oriented Development District, both of which require some affordable housing components.  

The Neighborhood Business Overlay District covers about 5 acres mostly on Lawrence Avenue between Mill Street and Mott Avenue, and about 13.8 acres located mostly on Doughty Boulevard between Bayview Avenue and Mott Avenue. The intent of the zoning was to create a main street that meets the demand for mixed-use development and incorporates housing and commercial uses in a walkable environment. 

The Transit Oriented Development District encompasses about 11.7 acres near the Lawrence Long Island Rail Road station and about 9 acres near the Inwood LIRR station. The new zoning was designed to allow for the redevelopment of light industrial and manufacturing uses adjacent in the area to encourage a “mix of housing and commercial uses” that will “sustain vibrant flourishing hamlet centers,” according to the town’s plan. 

If the town enacts its moratorium, any projects proposed for those areas and not already applied for will be put on hold. 

David Hance, president of the Inwood Civic Association, said he will be attending the town’s public hearing on the moratorium to get more information and see what some of the concerns are. 

“At this point, I would not want to see a moratorium put on it,” Hance said. “I’m more in favor of working with the community on a case-by-case basis to mitigate any potential impacts. We were big supporters of the transit-oriented development initiative and we still think it could be a good thing for our community.” 

Mitch Pally, CEO of the Long Island Builders Institute, said that while the town may want to “re-evaluate” some of the environmental review requirements that are inherent in the zoning changes, “we should remain committed to those zoning changes” which the town has already done. 

“We want to make sure that the town does not go backwards in the development of a variety of new housing options which they’ve already approached,” Pally said. 

Back in Baldwin, Frank Jorge, the current president of the Baldwin Chamber of Commerce and owner of the GalaFresh Farms market on Grand Avenue, said he is disappointed with the town’s proposed moratorium. 

“It’s a very big step back for all of Baldwin,” he said.

Article: https://libn.com/2022/04/07/town-seeks-to-halt-development-in-three-downtown-areas/ 

ALBANY — The state budget scheduled to be approved Friday includes a measure that would require audits of the Nassau University Medical Center, the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency and the Off-Track Betting Corp., which have long been subjects of partisan battles.

The measure is called the Nassau County Transparency and Accountability Act of 2022. It will continue a clash between Long Island Democrats in the Senate and Assembly against the NUMC, the IDA and OTB, which historically had been controlled by Republicans and now under County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

The audits would be done through the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, which is a state public benefit corporation that was created to help the county emerge from fiscal crisis dating to the 1990s.

The state measure revealed in the budget Thursday calls for investigation of “potential violations” of state laws governing the entities, fiscal management and any “systemic negligence.” The measure requires annual reports of the probes to the governor and State Legislature, which will be made public.

Supporters of the bill have said the entities have been hurt by patronage hiring by Republicans and mismanagement.

Blakeman, however, calls it a “power grab.” He said the measure unnecessary and politically motivated.

“I don’t believe it’s political to take a look at NUMC that is hemorrhaging money and not doing well; and OTB that traditionally has all types of jobs that may not be necessary,” said Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach). “I think it’s worth taking a look at. We want these Nassau County institutions to succeed and to make sure every use of tax dollars is appropriate.”

Several Long Island Democrats in the Legislature supported the measure.

“Once again, the Republicans endanger NUMC, our hospital for those in need, by using it as a political patronage mill,” said Assemb. Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove). “They do so with great satisfaction. My Democratic colleagues in the Assembly and Senate will resist. The stakes are too serious for good people to enable this cynical exploitation of NUMC’s vulnerable patient population.”

Last month Democratic lawmakers sparred with Blakeman over control of the governing board of NUMC.

A legislative bill in Albany would provide Gov. Kathy Hochul and Democratic leaders of the State Senate and Assembly far greater control over the appointment of most voting members on the hospital’s board. The governor also would appoint the board chairman and CEO.

Blakeman had called that effort “political shenanigans.”

Article: https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/state-legislature-blakeman-audits-numc-ida-otb-typmkv7c

Construction has begun on a $71.4 million project to modernize a segment of Route 347, according to a statement from the New York State Department of Transportation. 

The project will add new travel lanes, signals, crosswalks and other improvements to a 2-mile section of the roadway between Gibbs Pond Road and Hallock Road in the towns of Smithtown and Brookhaven. 

The work, which wasn’t scheduled to start until next year, is the latest phase in the DOT’s ongoing initiative to “ease congestion, improve mobility and enhance safety” along Route 347, sometimes called Smithtown Bypass, by transforming a 12-mile stretch between Routes 454 and 25A into a “multi-modal, environmentally sustainable boulevard for motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users,” according to the statement. 

Following five earlier phases of the Route 347 project, the new phase will add a new road surface, raised planted medians and a continuous third travel lane in both directions. Intersections with local roads and the Smith Haven Mall entrances will also be enhanced with new traffic signals and turning lanes to improve traffic flow.  

In addition, the project will create bus stops with pull-off areas for buses, shaded shelters and solar powered lighting, solar-powered pedestrian level lighting at intersections, coordinated traffic signals to reduce congestion and high-visibility crosswalks with pedestrian countdown timers. 

The Parks to Ports Greenway shared-use path that’s adjacent to the road’s eastbound lanes will also be extended by an additional 2 miles as part of the project. Bicycle racks and informational panels with details about the local community and environment, new landscaping, a greenway stop with benches and informational panels and rain gardens to improve the collection and treatment of storm water runoff are also part of the project. 

Work zones will be established behind barriers to avoid affecting daytime traffic and lane closures will be conducted primarily during off-peak and overnight hours, the DOT says. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2024. 

Article: https://libn.com/2022/04/04/work-begins-on-71-4m-route-347-project/