AvalonBay Communities announced on Monday that the state Department of Environmental Conservation had approved the real estate company’s draft work plan to clean up a former petroleum storage facility at 240 East Shore Road in the Village of Great Neck to make room for a 191-unit apartment building.
“We are looking forward to breaking ground on this exciting project,” said Christopher Capece, AvalonBay Communities’ senior development director. “It will mark both an end and a beginning, the end of what has been an eyesore for almost two decades, and the beginning of aligning this valuable stretch of waterfront property with the Village of Great Neck’s vision for the area, creating an enhanced streetscape and offering a luxury rental lifestyle community.”
Aphrodite Montalvo, a spokeswoman for the DEC, said the draft plan consists of the removal of contaminated soil and the treatment of contaminated soil that cannot be removed from the property.
“The targeted soils are contaminated with petroleum products,” Montalvo said.
She said the remediation plan will not be available for public view until they are finalized with Commander Oil, the former operator of the oil tanks and the party responsible for the environmental cleanup of the site.
AvalonBay officials said in a press release they expect to present designs for the exterior of the building to Village of Great Neck officials sometime after the summer.
Capece said the building would be “a truly unique and singular design, while complementing and being perfectly at home with the style and feel of the village.”
“We are working closely with village officials in this process,” he said. “We believe everyone, including Village of Great Neck officials and residents to our neighbors in the surrounding villages and town, are going to be extremely pleased.”
The six-story building, to be called AvalonBay Communities at Great Neck, will consist of 81 one-bedroom units, 79 two bedroom units and 31 three-bedroom units, according to AvalonBay officials.
AvalonBay has agreed to set aside 10-percent of its apartments for affordable workforce housing.
Construction of the building is expected to begin in December, according to AvalonBay officials, with tenants moving in around January 2016.
The land was rezoned for residential use by Village of Great Neck trustees at a Feb. 18 hearing, clearing the way for the project to begin.
The project was granted a tax break by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency on April 10.
AvalonBay will make $9,278,456 in payments in lieu of taxes to the village over the next 15 years for the apartment building, according to the IDA agreement.
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.
Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman said he does not usually support tax breaks for residential apartments, but made an exception because AvalonBay would be cleaning up the oil tanks on the site.
Kreitzman announced at the Feb. 18 meeting that AvalonBay would also give the village $885,000 to help enhance Middle Neck Road and the village’s business district.
Half of the money would be awarded upon AvalonBay receiving a building permit and the other half upon receiving a certificate of occupancy, Kreitzman said.
The development will result in nine full-time on site jobs – four of which would be maintenance jobs and another five for “leasing” jobs, according to the company’s application to the IDA. The company estimated that the employees would be paid between $45,000 – $55,000 without benefits.
