Village of Great Neck trustees gave AvalonBay Communities final approval Monday for the site plans and architectural plans for a proposed 191-unit apartment building on the site of a former petroleum storage facility at 240 East Shore Road.
Jack Libert, an attorney who represents AvalonBay Communities, said the trustees approval at the village’s regularly scheduled meeting allows them to move forward with the project with only the comlex’s front gate and lighting remaining as issues.
Stephen Limmer, attorney for the village, said it wasn’t that the board didn’t like the front gate and the lighting, but rather that the developers weren’t sure what exactly they wanted to do with the front gate and the lighting.
Limmer said instead of holding up development, the village decided to approve the site plans and let AvalonBay decide what they want to do with the front gate and the lighting later.
The project calls for the developers to remove contaminated soil and to treat any contaminated soil that can’t be removed.
“They can not only start the remediation process but they can start the building process itself,” Libert said.
Village of Great Neck Mayor Ralph Kreitzman said AvalonBay Communities has chosen a contractor for the demolition and cleanup of the site.
“They are going to start the excavation probably around the time of the remediation, but that is not final,” Kreitzman said.
Libert said he could not release the name of the contractor as his client has not disclosed the information publicly yet, but that the contractor was a prominent contractor in the state.
In February, the land was rezoned by the Village of Great Neck for residential use.
Tenants are expected to start moving in by January 2016.
The building will consist of 81 one-bedroom units, 79 two-bedroom units and 31 three-bedroom units, and 10 percent of the total apartments will be used for workforce housing.
AvalonBay was granted tax breaks by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency from construction of the project.
Under an agreement with the IDA, AvalonBay will make $9,278,456 in payments in lieu of taxes to the village during the next 15 years.
