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Will 'affordable' transit community meet expectations?
AvalonBay hearing March 9
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| | | A rendering of the multifamily housing complex planned for Huntington Station. Courtesy Christopher Capece/AvalonBay (click for larger version) | |
February 03, 2010 | 03:39 PM
Huntington Station resident Nancy Berg wishes her children could live closer to her. In the past year, she has been out to California six times to visit her son and new grandson.
"I'd love to have my grandson nearby so I could see him once a week instead of every two months," Berg said.
When her son, now 40, moved out of state, there wasn't much demand for "affordable housing" in the Huntington community. Now, Berg said she is encouraged by the town's intentions to make way for the largest transit-oriented development community on Long Island: a 530 unit housing development about a half-mile from the Huntington train station.
The 26.6-acre plot, owned by Starlight Building Corporation, is zoned for 109 single family homes. Upon receiving approvals from the town, AvalonBay, a Virginia-based real estate developer, will purchase the land and build a new multi-use community, which will include an overpass to the Long Island railroad station and bus stops throughout the development.
Although AvalonBay already has residential communities in Glen Cove, Melville, Long Beach, Coram, and Smithtown, the AvalonBay at Huntington Station would be their first transit-oriented development. A second one is planned for Rockville Center.
Demand is high for housing that can accommodate people entering the workforce and for empty nesters who don't want to have to get into their cars to go everywhere, town spokesman A.J. Carter said.
"There is a belief that people want to see this type of a district," Carter said.
Twenty percent, or 106 of the 530 units, will be for sale; 80 percent, or 424, will be available for rent.
In each of the two categories, 25 percent will be earmarked as affordable housing. The U.S. Department Housing and Urban Development defines "affordable" as a certain percentage of the median income each year for the area, which is in this case the Nassau-Suffolk area.
Of the 106 for-sale town homes, 52 percent would be two-bedroom units; 20 percent, one-bedroom; and 13 percent, three-bedroom. Of the 424 rental apartments, half would be two-bedroom units; 36 percent, one-bedroom, and 13 percent, three-bedroom.
The property in question offers a unique opportunity to build the new zone "because no other site exists like this on Long Island," said Chris Capece, development director of AvalonBay, Long Island. "It's an amazing opportunity for Huntington."
Through its financial investment and additional housing, AvalonBay at Huntington Station will have a significant, positive impact on the community, said Rob Ripp, chairman of the town's Economic Development Corporation.
The new complex will be vital in local revitalization efforts, Ripp said.
"Now you'll have another whole population who can help support the commercial revitalization of the neighborhood," he said. "Households drive consumer spending: they drive a lot of the economy."
Once the Town Board approves the zoning, which it is expected to do at its March 9 meeting, AvalonBay must get its site plan approved, which will probably take about a year. Groundbreaking would then happen sometime in 2011; building would be done in phases and should take about 28 months to complete, Capece said.
The new Huntington Station complex will differ from Avalon Court in Melville, which was completed in the late 1990s. The Melville development featured all the same housing style. In Huntington Station there will be multiple housing types, including town homes and three-story corridor buildings.
To help answer questions people might have about their proposed development, AvalonBay has launched a website, www.avalonhuntingtonstation.com.
Although Huntington school board Trustee Rich McGrath said he is open-minded about the housing plan — "because Avalon Bay is a top-notch developer with a great track record and we need private sector investment to revitalize the Huntington Station area" — he is also keeping a watchful eye on development.
"If this becomes another proposal for low-income housing being dumped on the Station, I would oppose it 100 percent," McGrath said. "On the surface it appears to be a solid, market-rate project by a known developer, but the history in this town tells us to be wary. The devil is in the detail."
Berg exudes enthusiasm for any new development that would support area businesses while at the same time recognizing the misinformation there is about affordable housing.
"Many people think affordable housing is welfare housing …" Berg said. "But a lot of people just don't realize it's their own children who will benefit from affordable housing."
Perhaps one day even her son.
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Copyright 2010
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