Macy’s and international development company Brookfield Properties announced plans in May for a $400 million mixed-use development on the department store’s Manhasset property.
The plan calls for the construction of three apartment complexes, a full-service hotel, an office building, restaurants and retail space – in addition to the Macy’s store at the location.
“We want to have that Main Street feel. A place where the community can meet,” explained Chase Martin, a senior vice president for mixed-use development at Brookfield Properties.
With all the talk about the internet taking over retail spending, you wouldn’t be alone if you found it hard to believe that a top retailer and a top development company would be looking to spend $400 million on brick-and-mortar stores in 2019.
Especially, with a plan for a Main Street feel at a time when nearby shopping districts are filled with empty storefronts.
But Macy’s thinks otherwise.
“We’ve got a very robust online presence that we’re looking to strengthen over time, but it’s never going to overtake our brick-and-mortar business,” said Chris Erb, Macy’s vice president for real estate.
And he is not alone.
Across Nassau County, developers are seeking a Main Street feel when deciding where to build housing and mixed-use developments such as the proposed Macy’s project.
The developers of Roslyn Landing, a 78-unit condominium project in the Village of Roslyn, cited that Main Street feel in announcing their construction project in 2015.
So how do you explain the empty storefronts along so many Main Streets around the county?
Answers to that question were provided by an expert panel assembled last week by Blank Slate Media and the Universalist Unitarian Congregation at Shelter Rock for a community forum on downtown revitalization and in a special section published by the papers the week before.
One major problem cited was a building-permit system in which new businesses can spend months and months after signing a lease getting approved to open.
To get the go-ahead to open, a business must obtain the approval of either a city, town or a village. And Nassau County. And each of the county’s two cities, three towns and 64 villages has its own zoning requirements.
Richard Nicolello, presiding officer of the Nassau County Legislature, acknowledged that fire inspections were often delayed by a shortage of fire inspectors. He said the county should hire more. We agree. We also wonder how the shortage could have been allowed in the first place.
We also wonder why county inspections are not coordinated with city, town and village inspections to avoid delays.
While they await their approvals, new businesses must pay the rent, lawyers, architects and others while receiving no income. This leaves many businesses in a financial hole before they even open their doors.
If a business does open, the downtown district often lacks sufficient parking to support local businesses. Or customers are inconvenienced with metered parking and tickets if their meter expires.
Parking meters are a deterrent to store employees who monopolize parking. They are also an important if sometimes self-defeating source of revenue for cities, town and villages.
But they are also a deterrent to people who do not pay for meters or tickets while shopping online and in shopping malls and strip centers.
Government financial assistance is also very limited for shopping districts and individual store owners – unless your name is Amazon.
Nicolello did tell the panel that individual county legislators have money for downtown revitalization. But, he said, in many cases the money has been diverted to other uses.
Memo to local chambers of commerce and business improvement districts: It’s time to hold your county legislator accountable and press him or her to deliver the money where it belongs – and where it will provide an actual return on investment.
This should be an easy call for businesses and residents.
After all, a healthy downtown offers residents the convenience of shopping locally with the help of another human being, generates much-needed sales tax revenues, creates jobs and, as the Macy’s vice president said, offers the community a place to meet.
And store owners often form the backbone of chambers of commerce, civic association and community activities.
Still, too little is done to support businesses and the business district.
But there are some notable exceptions. And unsurprisingly they are the places in which the business district is doing well.
They include the villages of Mineola and Farmingdale. To what do the mayors attribute their success?
A downtown plan developed by the entire community – from business to government to residents.
Farmingdale Mayor Ralph Ekstrand, who is also president of the Nassau County Village Officials Association, took over a community filled with empty, boarded-up storefronts. Eight years later, the Farmingale downtown is bustling – and other villages whose downtowns are suffering are asking Ekstrand how they should move forward.
Unsurprisingly, one important initiative that he said was implemented was fast-tracking the approval process for building applications so multiple jurisdictions considered the same project at the same time.
Ekstrand said this enabled the village to approve applications within 90 days rather than the six or eight months faced by other jurisdictions.
This should be a standard to which all jurisdictions, including the county, are held.
A second initiative was to develop ways to make the downtown walkable. This included creative ways to increase parking.
Mineola Mayor Scott Stauss also cited the need for a plan developed by the community, coupled with a commitment to carry it forward over a number of years – points echoed by Eric Alexander, the director of Vision Long Island, which is dedicated to building sustainable downtowns on Long Island.
Scott said the village’s commitment to urban transit housing – 1,100 units in the case of Mineola – is attracting new businesses seeking to serve both the old and new residents. This is a widely understood concept, but one that is less often executed well.
Mineola’s leaders have also been smart in securing money from developers receiving tax breaks from the county as well as money to build new parking facilities in exchange for supporting Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plans for the LIRR’S third track.
Other village boards rejected the third track out of hand and appear to have come out with less for their communities.
Strauss offered a truism that other villages should take to heart – more parking means more business for village downtowns.
It is true that some areas such as Great Neck have separate jurisdictions along the business corridor, making it more difficult to reach an agreement.
We suggest the county executive, the town supervisor or the chamber of commerce step in to insist on a plan.
They would also do well to dispel the notion that one area or another is burdened by changes in “demographics.”
These are just excuses from people lacking the vision to develop a plan and the stamina to see it through.
An example of this could be heard in the remarks of Christine Silletti, the executive director of the Bayside Village Business Improvement District.
She said that despite a lack of parking and shifts in the Queens business district’s demographics, Bell Boulevard continues to thrive — with just the cuisines served changing, not the health of the shopping district. Contrast this with Middle Neck Road.
The makeup of downtown shopping districts and retail business has changed dramatically in recent years.
But, if done right, both businesses and business districts can still prosper.
