Construction ready to start on Mineola apartment buildings

The Island Now
Daniel Whalen, the Village of Mineola building superintendent, speaks at the March 1, 2017 Village Board meeting. (Photo by Ted Ryan)

By Ted Ryan and Noah Manskar

Developers are preparing to start construction on Mineola’s two most recently approved apartment complexes, a village official said Wednesday night.

The demolition for the Village Green at 199 Second St., is complete and the developer, Lalezarian Properties, is ready to start excavating the site where a Citibank branch once stood, Daniel Whalen, the village building superintendent, told the Village Board.

“We’ll have both of them up and running as soon as possible,” he said. “They have come full circle as far as reports, all commitments and now it’s just a matter of being able to coordinate everything into their permits and get them started.”

The project is an eight-story mixed-use building containing 266 apartments. It was approved by the Village Board with a 4-1 vote during a May 2015 meeting.

Whalen said some plans, contracts and insurances need to be approved before excavation can start.

Mill Creek Residential Trust, the Texas-based developer of an 192-unit development on Searing Avenue, has submitted all required applications to the building department, Whalen said.

Whalen said Mill Creek has split the $68 million project into two phases. But a Mill Creek spokeswoman, Desiree Fagan, denied that, saying the buildings “will be constructed simultaneously once demolition of the existing structures has been completed.”

The timing of construction activities will be provided at a later date,” Fagan wrote in an email.

The village has collected about $41,000 from residential, commercial, plumbing and electrical permits, title searches, issuing certificates of occupancy, licenses to do business and court dispositions, Whalen said.

The buildings, located near Mineola’s Long Island Rail Road station and marketed to affluent commuters, have been central to the village’s efforts to revitalize its downtown area.

Residents have moved into two others: Mill Creek’s Modera Mineola at 140 Old Country Road opened in 2015, Lalezarian’s One Third Ave. at 250 Old Country Road opened last year.

All four have received tax breaks from the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency, which the developers say are necessary to make them financially feasible.

The village is also set to receive several million dollars in payments from the developers in to its development incentive bonus fund, a condition that village trustees say has allowed them to keep residents’ property taxes down.

Lalezarian Properties did not return a request for comment.

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