Virginia-based development firm AvalonBay, which operates luxury rental communities on Long Island and across the country, presented a plan to build apartments on the former petroleum storage site at 240 East Shore Road before the Village of Great Neck board of trustees Tuesday evening.
The exact design and cost of the development is still unknown, as the group is yet to present a formal application to the board. But executives from the company said they were committed to working with the village to build a mixture of one, two and three bedroom units with luxury amenities at the site, which will likely require an environmental cleanup due to petroleum contamination from the oil tanks that currently occupy the property.
“We think it can be a special collaboration between the village, AvalonBay and the [state] Department of Environmental Conservation,” said AvalonBay senior development director Chris Capece.
Capece described the current site, which sits at the intersection of Vista Hill and East Shore roads on the Manhasset Bay and currently contains six oil storage tanks, as “contaminated” and a “public eyesore.” He said AvalonBay would assume the full cost of any environmental cleanup.
“What we are proposing is to clean up the site at no cost to the village,” Capece said. “It provides an opportunity for residents who want to stay here to actually stay here.”
AvalonBay has developed other contaminated sites on Long Island, including a former dry-cleaning site in Rockville Center and an old Navy facility in Garden City. The $17 billion firm has followed through on its commitments to those municipalities, according to Capece.
“We’re able to keep the promises we make to our partners,” Capece said.
Though the proposed Great Neck development is still in the planning stages, the firm is planning to have 45 percent of the apartments be one bedroom, 40 percent two bedroom and 15 percent three bedroom. AvalonBay’s communities typically attract young professionals and older couples seeking smaller housing options after their children leave home, Capece said.
“We have renters by choice at the communities,” Capece said. “Depending on what the community needs, we will adapt to what the opportunity is.”
The firm would design its architecture to match the character of the village and the buildings would not be taller than the existing storage tanks, according to Capece.
Planned amenities for the development include a landscaped courtyard, a heated pool, a fitness center and controlled access garages.
The village had previously sought to rezone the property 12 years ago for residential development, but that effort stalled after a court challenge, Village of Great Mayor Ralph Kreitzman said.
