A marketing consultant firm plans to move from 11 Grace Ave. to the 5-9 Grace Ave. complex by the beginning of next month, developers and village officials said, but some trustees said it was not what they originally envisioned.
Officials have previously described the building as the first mixed-use development to be completed in Great Neck Plaza, which would fit into the goal of creating a transit-oriented community. The four-story development features retail space on the bottom floor and 30 apartments on the three floors above it.
Discussion about the move arose at the Great Neck Plaza Board of Trustees meeting last Wednesday night, when officials were considering a sign application from A.P. Keaton, a boutique marketing agency working in areas like hospitality, adult beverages and lifestyle.
“It’s not a store. They’re putting a commercial business in there,” Michael Sweeney, the commissioner for public services, told trustees at the meeting when asked what store was going in. “It’s moving out of 11 Grace Ave. into this space.”
“That wasn’t what we envisioned in mixed use,” Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender replied.
Trustee Pam Marksheid later said, “That was the whole point.” Deputy Mayor Ted Rosen also said that when the project first came before the board, the developer “said this would be high-end retail.”
The site was home to three vacant stores and a vacant parking lot and law office when the mixed use project was being mulled in 2014, according to project filings and applications for financial assistance. The project was first presented to trustees in August 2012.
“Retail isn’t coming and you’ve got a transfer of tenants from one smaller space into a larger space,” Sweeney said.
When Richard Gabriele, the village attorney, asked if the Board of Trustees wanted to press for a retail use, Celender said no “if it was marketed for.” The trustees, however, requested a new design for the sign.
In a follow-up call on Tuesday, Celender said the board does not intend to push for a retail use.
“It was marketed to be more of a traditional retail store, but it’s an allowable business use and the board approved it,” Celender said. “We don’t have to approve it, it’s ‘as of right.'”
A representative for A.P. Keaton could not be reached Monday for further comment.
Hooshang Nematzadeh, the developer of 5-9 Grace Ave., said five or six clients looked into the space, including two “high-end retailers” that he could not identify for legal reasons. But clients were discouraged because of the widespread retail vacancies, Nematzadeh said.
“The point was that we tried and a couple of high-end retailers did come to the project, but when they saw so many vacancies in Great Neck, they shied away,” Nematzadeh said Monday.
He also described A.P. Keaton as an “amazing business” involved in retail marketing that will take up the entire space, which he said will be “magnificent.”
“We are spending quite a bit of money in developing the space for them for the exact needs that they have and, of course, they wanted to expand and we were the perfect size for them,” Nematzadeh said.
A.P. Keaton hopes to move in by May 1, he added.
