The Mineola Village Board will reopen a public hearing tonight at 6:30 p.m. concerning the proposed 296-unit Village Green apartment complex by Lalezarian Developers for 199 East Second St. The New Hyde Park-based firm stood before the village late last year, outlining the project. The meeting will take place in Village Hall at 155 Washington Ave. in Mineola.
The village board declined to comment on the open hearing. Developer Kevin Lalezarian also did not return calls for this story.
“I can’t speak on this because the hearing’s open,” Mayor Scott Strauss said last week. “[The Village Green] is what’s before the board.”
The $80-100 million proposed building, would consist of 132 one-bedroom and 164 two-bedroom units as well as restaurant and retail space. The dwelling is in line to replace the Citibank at the site, which would move to Third Avenue. The planned horseshoe-shaped building would also house a village courtyard.
“We’re not going to do something stupid,” Lalezarian at the most recent hearing. “Before we complete [250 Old Country Rd.], we’ll start pre-leasing apartments. If we see we’re wrong and it’s not renting, we’re not going to start another project.”
The project has seen nothing short of controversy, with the recent back-and-forth between the village and Mineola School Board on tax breaks for the developing site and proposed property. At the center of the discussion were School Board President Artie Barnett and Mayor Strauss, exchanging letters in the Mineola American and contentious banter at last the village hearing.
Barnett will attend the meeting on Wednesday.
“I will reiterate our opposition to tax exemptions for residential buildings now and in the future until the tax cap law is fixed,” Barnett said in a phone interview.
Barnett argued the schools were not consulted on development tax relief in his letter and during the Village Green hearing. This led to the release of documents dating back to 2012, which detailed correspondence from the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency to the school district.
Those documents outlined tax incentives for the 275-unit Mineola Modera and its sister complex, the Hudson House developed by Mill Creek Residential Trust, on Old Country Road. The file also included papers on the 315-unit building across from the train station.
