The Mineola Village Board held off on approving a permit change allowing New Hyde Park-based Lalezarian Developers to relocate Citibank at 199 2nd St. to their rising, luxury apartment complex on Old Country Road yesterday. The bank is set to be razed after the board approved Lalezarian’s plan to build the 266-unit Village Green apartment complex in May at the location.
“Without having retail at the base of [the Old Country Road apartment complex], you’d have an inactive streetscape of just parking that isn’t as attractive,” Kevin Lalezarian said after a public hearing . “By livening the streetscape with retail uses, it contributes to a more vibrant downtown.”
Citibank plans to occupy the ground floor of 1 3rd Ave. at 250 Old Country Rd., a 311-unit apartment building. Mineola approved the apartment building project in 2012.
Lalezarian also plans to open a coffee shop next to the bank. Citibank’s move had been discussed during Village Green hearings earlier this year.
“It was always the intent to relocate the existing Citibank branch on 2nd Street,” said Lalezarian’s legal counsel, Kevin Walsh.
The Citibank move could mark the end of foodbank Island Harvest’s Mineola headquarters in the building. Citibank currently leases the 2nd Street property, with Island Harvest serving as a subtenant.
Lalezarian said Wednesday he was unsure if Island Harvest was moving with Citibank to Old Country Road. Island Harvest and Citibank did not return calls for comment.
“We don’t have any contractual agreements with Island Harvest,” Lalezarian said at the final public hearing on the Village Green in May. “It’s my understanding that Citibank has taken upon them to work on [Island Harvest’s] relocation. We don’t have a lease or any agreement with Island Harvest of any kind.”
Lalezarian plans to remove four apartments from 1 3rd Ave. (the original plan called for 315 units) to account for the bank’s relocation and coffee shop. Twenty-five residential parking spots would also be eliminated. Lalezarian expects the move to take three to four months if approved.
Between the two storefronts, 27 bank/retail parking spots would be created. The resident-only parking lot holds 426 spots.
“There will be negligible effects as it relates to traffic in the area,” Walsh said.
Four Garden City residents of the Cherry Valley Co-Op across from the 1 3rd Ave. complex took issue with traffic that backs up on West Street, across from the apartment complex.
“We already have a big traffic issue on West Street,” Cherry Valley resident Patricia Donnelly said. “It’s already a danger. How are we going to manage it now that Citibank could be moving there.”
The bank parking lot would be accessible from Old Country Road and West Street, which parallels Cherry Valley. But the lot would not be connected to the residential parking structure, Lalezarian said, which enter/exit on 3rd Avenue and 3rd Street.
“It’s only the clients of the bank that will have access to that parking lot,” Deputy Mayor Paul Pereira said. “The residents who live in the building, they don’t have access to [West Street].”
Lalezarian purchased Century Plaza, a 100,000-square foot office building at 330 Old Country Rd. in October, and was 95 percent leased at the time of the sale, he said. Lalezarian suggested the 500 parking spaces could serve as alternative, additional parking for 1 3rd Ave. residents.
“It has approximately 100 parking spaces at peak hours that are never used,” Walsh said. “[Lalezarian’s] goal is to not have his residents parking on the streets of Mineola.”
