Mineola Mayor Scott Strauss extolled the impact new apartment buildings will have on the village’s economy in state of the village remarks at last Tuesday night’s Mineola Chamber of Commerce meeting, and announced a public hearing will be held next month on apartments proposed for the property occupied by the former Corpus Christi School on Searing Avenue.
Strauss said Mill Creek Residential Trust has submitted a plan to the Mineola Village Board to build a 197-unit apartment complex on the Searing Avenue spot that will be reviewed at a village board hearing on Oct. 21. He said Corpus Christi Church has a conditional deal in place for sale of the property to Mill Creek.
Strauss said he had not yet reviewed the plan recently submitted by Mill Creek.
Bill Garry, a lawyer representing Corpus Christi, confirmed last week that the parish has struck a deal to sell the property to Mill Creek if the developer gains approval for its plans from the village. Garry said the sale “will allow the parish to continue pastoral services, to ensure that there are sufficient funds going forward.”
Continuing development of apartment housing in Mineola is expected to help revive business in the downtown area, consistent with goals of the village’s revitalization plan.
“Help is on the way for the businesses,” Strauss said.
Strauss said the 266-unit Village Green planned by Lalezarian Developers with ground floor stores at 199 Second St. will also create foot traffic for downtown businesses. He acknowledged concerns about that project’s impact on parking and said the plan for the site approved by the village board provides for underground parking at the site.
“Once those buildings go up and are full, I think it will be okay. And it could be a great boost to businesses in the downtown area,” he said.
Lalezarian Developers is currently in the final phase of construction on a 315-unit apartment complex at 250 Old Country Rd.
“We shouldn’t underestimate ourselves in Mineola. We command a very high rent in the places in this village,” he said.
Strauss said the village board would approve an RFP for a village-wide parking study and he said he’d eventually like to commission a village traffic study.
Mineola’s Finances
In response to a question from Chamber of Commerce President Tony Lubrano about the village’s financial status, Strauss said the village is currently $12 million in debt, down from a peak of $33 million when former Mayor Jack Martins took office more than a decade ago. He said the board is currently reducing the village debt by $2 million per year, and expects to eliminate the debt in seven years.
“We are in financially good shape,” he said, noting that village taxes increased by .13 percent this year.
Strauss opened his informal address to the chamber of commerce during a dinner at Piccolo Bussola, slamming the three judges on the state Court of Appeals who decided to not hear the village’s arguments against permitting 7-Eleven to erect a new store on east Jericho Turnpike. In its decision earlier this month, the court let stand an appellate court ruling that overturned a Supreme Court ruling that had upheld the village’s position in rejecting the proposal.
“We turned this down for safety reasons,” Strauss said. “I don’t see how three judges in Brooklyn can know what’s going on in Mineola.”
On commercial development, Strauss said Walgreens has been proceeding slowly on preparing the former Entenmann’s site on Jericho Turnpike for its new planned store. He said he heard the existing Walgreens site on Jericho could be used for a professional building.
Strauss said things are in a “holding pattern” on the site of the King Kullen supermarket that closed on Jericho Turnpike last year. He said he’d like to see another supermarket locate there, but said he doesn’t know what the Leone family, which owns the former King Kullen tract, has in mind.
“There’s not much happening there right now,” he said.
