AvalonBay set to break ground

Adam Lidgett

AvalonBay Communities was scheduled to hold a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for construction of a 191-unit apartment building on the site of a former petroleum storage facility at 240 East Shore Road in the Village of Great Neck. Village of Great Neck trustees and Mayor Ralph Kreitzman were expected to attend along with Nassau County Legislator Ellen Birnbaum (D-Great Neck), according to Christopher Capece, senior development director for AvalonBay Communities.

The parcel the building will sit on is 3.85 acres once included six above-ground petroleum tanks, which were demolished in March.

Developers were required to remove contaminated soil from the site and treat any contaminated soil that could not be removed from the property.

Site cleanup should be completed some time this summer, according to Capece.

AvalonBay hopes to have tenants moving into the building by fall 2016, he said.

Village of Great Neck trustees gave AvalonBay Communities final site-plan approval in December to build the complex, which will consist of 81 one-bedroom units, 79 two-bedroom units and 31 three-bedroom units. Some 10 percent of the total apartments will be used for workforce housing.

In February 2014, the land the complex will sit on was rezoned for residential use.

The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency also granted tax breaks to AvalonBay for the construction of the building.

Under an agreement with the IDA, AvalonBay will make $9,278,456 in payments in lieu of taxes to the village during the next 15 years.  

The payment in lieu of taxes – known as a PILOT – will start at $95,000 in the first year and increase to $958,110 in the 15th and final year, according to the agreement.

Property taxes on the development would cost about $1 million a year.

Capece said at the time that if the IDA not approve the tax breaks, AvalonBay would have looked to develop housing in other areas of Nassau County.

IDA Executive Director Joseph Kearney said at the time he supported the tax breaks for the project because it would allow for the clean-up of the defunct oil tanks, formerly operated by Commander Enterprises.

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