Tower Slowly Changes Skyline

With the advent of the new year and the trees naked without their leaves, the landscape of the Munsey Park skyline is changing with the new water tower looming over rooftops.
In 2014, the Manhasset-Lakeville Water District approved the newly designed “alien head” tank which is 165 feet tall, the same height of the original, with its diameter 16 feet wider. The structure is now visible to passerby. Manhasset-Lakeville Water District’s new tank is a 750,000-gallon elevated single-pedestal tank.
The Manhasset water tower currently holds 500,000 gallons and is located in the northeastern section of the district sitting on a three-acre parcel of land in Munsey Park. In 2013, an aerial tower was raised on the property after Superstorm Sandy to improve communication for first responders. That tower created an uproar and nearby residents, village officials and elected officials clamored to have the tower dismantled and the aerial tower came down. Subsequently, Manhasset-Lakeville district commissioners stated the storage tank, which was constructed in 1929, was at the end of its useful life.
Work began on the new tower last fall after several costly delays which occurred due to litigation from the surrounding village. According to water district officials, the original $3.2 million estimate was increased to $5.5 million last June due to revised estimates and additional costs not originally factored in. The new tank, when viewed in comparison to nearby water towers located in Roslyn, is smaller.
The tank’s construction will be completed by Caldwell Tanks. The old tank’s demolition is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2016 with the site demolition, site work, paving, fencing and restoration.
Construction began last fall and continues with normal working hours from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and deliveries during those hours. With the colder weather here, work on the tank may be tempered by weather delays.