Fred Parola, CEO of the Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency (IDA), said the agency approved benefits packages for a pair of apartment complexes in Baldwin that could provide a catalyst to future redevelopment in the community.
The IDA board approved the benefit packages at its meeting on April 18 for:
Baldwin Jaz LLC, an affiliate of Garden City-based Breslin Realty Inc., which proposes to build a 215-apartment complex on a 1.8-acre site on the southeast corner of Grand Avenue and Sunrise Highway opposite the LIRR station. The project received town zoning and site plan approval in December.
PGD Baldwin Commons LLC, a partnership of the Community Development Corp. of Long Island, a housing advocacy group, and Park Grove Development LLC, a Rochester-based company that develops affordable housing, that plans to construct a 33-unit workforce housing complex costing $16 million project at 785 Merrick Rd., currently the site of a vacant diner and auto storage yard. The project has town approval.
The projects will be the first in a zoning overlay, called the Grand Avenue Urban Renewal Area, that was created by the town in 2008 to encourage investment and redevelopment within the Grand Avenue Corridor. Earlier projects failed to progress.
“These two projects will provide multiple benefits to the Town,” said Parola. “In addition to serving as a catalyst that will bring much-needed change to Baldwin and increased economic activity in the community, it will remove long-time eyesores, alleviate a shortage of rental housing in the town, and provide increase revenues to the various taxing jurisdictions.”
Baldwin Jaz intends to demolish a former car storage facility and replace it with a 59,342-square-foot five-story building that would contain 47 studio apartments, 132 one-bedrooms and 36 two-bedroom units – 10 percent of them set aside as workforce housing – along with 5,000 square feet of ground-floor restaurant/retail space and parking for 251 cars. There also will be a public/private park that would link Grand Avenue with Sunrise Highway. The $106 million project, to be called the Grand at Baldwin, will result in the creation of 350 construction jobs and seven full-time permanent jobs after two years.
Baldwin Jaz received a sales tax exemption, mortgage recording tax exemption, and a 30-year PILOT agreement from the IDA. Current taxes on the site are $105,034. The project ultimately will add $2.4 million to the tax base at the end of the proposed 30-year PILOT. Tax payments over the life of the proposed PILOT agreement will total $34.4 million, compared with $5.2 million that would be collected without the project.
Meanwhile, Baldwin Commons, which is expected to generate 75 construction industry jobs, will be a 32,504 square-foot, 4-story building on a half acre. It will include 11 apartments per floor, including 27 one-bedroom units and 6 two-bedroom units. Parking will be located at grade. There also will be amenity space, including a rental office, mechanical systems, maintenance office, fitness room, laundry and a community room on the ground floor. Baldwin Commons will be affordable to households at 60 percent of the Area Median Income. Approximately 30 percent of non-age-restricted affordable apartments will be leased to seniors The project received a 20-year PILOT with an option for a 10-year extension if the project remains in compliance with terms of the benefits package, which include the PILOT and mortgage recording tax and sales tax exemptions. Taxes on the site currently are $28,939 and will rise to $85,661 in year 30.
