Plans for a 63-unit mixed-use complex on East Shore Road were presented during the Village of Great Neck’s Board of Trustees meeting last week.
The proposal, outlined by Paul Bloom of Harras Bloom & Archer LLP and representatives from Mojo Stumer Associates, features a four-story building and a small retail section closer to the street at 265 East Shore Road, the former site of the village’s sewer treatment plant. The plans were sent to the village on behalf of the developer, Villadom Corp.
Of the 63 units, 15 are one-bedroom apartments, 29 are two-bedroom apartments, and 19 are three-bedroom apartments, according to the plans. Most of the units will be on the first three floors, with only nine on the fourth floor, which also includes a tenant roof deck, various planting beds, and a mechanical equipment room, according to the plans.
The plans also call for 93 parking spaces underneath the proposed structure along with approximately 50 more above-ground spots for the apartment and retail sections. The apartment, Bloom said, will be an age-restricted property, potentially requiring residents to be 55 or older.
Mark Stumer, principal architect of Mojo Stumer, said he took residents’ input from previous projects and presentations for other developments into “great consideration” when putting together the design of the structure for the property, which currently is not occupied by a building.
“This is a very interesting project,” he said. “We have a very beautiful piece of land that will be developed. Something is going to come there. Let’s get the best thing we can possibly put there. We are very sensitive to the community and the site.”
Bloom said the applicant has already conducted the necessary traffic and environmental impact studies. Some residents expressed concerns about building an apartment on the site of a former sewer treatment plant, but village Attorney Peter Bee said the developer’s engineering firm, VHB, has been in contact and submitted tests and studies to the village regarding the environmental impact.
Bee also said test borings were conducted in eight places on the property and those results were included in the environmental impact study received by the village.
While there is no commitment as to what the retail space would be home too, Bloom said, the proposal’s environmental assessment and traffic study used the example of a grocery store during its research because of its high intensive use.
“To be conservative … we selected the most intensive use that could be in this site,” Bloom said.
With further concerns about traffic made by residents, Mayor Pedram Bral said it is the board’s responsibility to think of ways to reduce traffic throughout the entire village rather than one particular section.
“The board should not think about one section of Great Neck,” he said. “So even though there are some areas that need to be upgraded … what we need to think is what are the things we can actually get rid of that produce and create traffic.”
Residents present at the meeting said they were pleased with the proposed design of the structure and some said they appreciated Stumer’s commitment to serving the community in a way that best fits their needs.
A date for a future hearing with the potential of an approval motion was not scheduled by the Board of Trustees.
