The architects hired to design the new Great Neck Park District office said Thursday they are designing the building to provide more space while giving it a residential feel that allows it to fit into the unique setting of the Village Green.
“We are using modern materials that would give the building a sense of history and a natural feel,” Vincent Cangelosi, principal architect for the project, said at a park district board meeting on Thursday.
Most of the building, he said, will be made out of composite cement and wood fiber – materials that are very unique and suitable for a historic location – combined with residential home windows
Cangelosi said the new building will have a larger board room, a generous waiting area, two entrances to the main waiting area and more parking.
One of the main issues the architects had to deal with included the limited space parks district employees currently have to work in, he said.
The new building, Cangelosi said, will be about 30 percent larger than the current building.
Parks district Superintendent Peter Renick said he does not intend to increase the size of the staff and the additional space will be used to eliminate the crowding of current employees.
Cangelosi said the building will be about the size of a standard ranch house and is designed to look more like a house, as a large commercial building would look out of place in the setting.
He said they are currently planning on up to 29 spaces, but the number was subject to change.
Cangelosi said the new park office will located roughly where the current parking lot is, and the new parking lot will be behind the building.
Commissioners expressed concerns about the need to cut down some cherry trees surrounding the building to accommodate the increased parking lot size.
“We don’t want to cut any trees down,” park district Commissioner Bob Lincoln said. “The landscaping of this project is going to be very significant part of project, from concealing the view from street to enhancing the whole area.”
Renick said erecting the new building in the parking lot of the current structure allows the park district to continue operations while the new office is being built. This, he said, avoids the need to displace the staff for a year and save about $100,000.
Cangelosi said his team at CDA Architects in New York City have been looking at the building for several years.
“There were studies done regarding conditions of the current structure and its feasibility to be an ongoing structure, and it was determined a new headquarters was needed,” he said.
Another of the changes in the new building design includes reorienting the entrance of the building to face out to the Village Green, instead of facing toward Beach Road as it does now.
Cangelosi said the scope of construction will be similar to a new house with at least a couple of weeks in which heavy equipment is used.
“We’re not going to make something obtrusive to the neighborhood, we’ve said that from beginning,” Lincoln said. “We will build something close to a house.”
