Developer and Village of Kings Point Trustee Hooshang Nematzadeh presented three preliminary architectural designs for his proposed Grace Avenue retail-residential building to the Village of Great Neck Plaza Board of Trustees Wednesday evening.
The designs reflect the numerous modifications requested by the board over a period of months to bring the project closer in line with village code, Nematzadeh said.
“These plans comply with the height that we were talking about,” Nematzadeh said. “It’s just the architectural that we are talking about right now.”
The three plans, one or more of which is expected to form the basis of a final design, would each lend a different character to the Grace Avenue streetscape.
While each would feature a street-level retail space and three additional stories of residential units, they differ in how the space would look to passers-by.
The first scheme featured a storefront hedged by glass paneling and with flanked and topped by limestone.
The second plan, a similar design that would have a limestone border for the entire storefront, also features a vertical limestone ornamentation from the roof down the right side of the building.
The third design would have a curved limestone border to the store, and a glass railing on the top-floor balcony.
Nematzadeh he said he liked the idea of combining the vertical stone element of the second design with the third plan’s curved storefront.
“It’s very, very nice,” he said.
Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender was not at the meeting, as she was attended a conference for mayors organized by Congressman Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills).
But in an e-mail provided to board members, she indicated that she also liked the curved stone archway in the third plan, and the top-floor elements of the first design.
Deputy Mayor Ted Rosen, who was presiding over the meeting, suggested that Nematzadeh and his architect prepare a fourth scheme to bring several of the design elements together.
“Do a scheme D with the elements of A, B and C we’ve been discussing,” Rosen said.
A representative from the architectural firm said once a design was agreed on, the firm would prepare a full rendering of the project.
The latest plans call for a building that would stand 35 feet tall and include 4,800 square feet of first-floor retail space, 30 residential units and a continuous curved balcony. The original plan called for a five-story, 52-foot building that drew board concerns over density, height, parking and aesthetic design.
Nematzadeh has said many of those concerns have now been addressed.
Nematzadeh has requested two code variances, for a smaller than required setback and the right to build a fourth story.
The board plans to review an environmental impact statement for the project, its first meeting in June, and Nematzadeh has said that he would commission a traffic study.
He has said that he plans to stage construction from the back of the building’s lot in order to minimize the effect on Grace Avenue’s traffic.
