This was no ordinary ribbon cutting. After all, the county executive—and camera crews from at least one of the NYC news stations—showed up as the Farmingdale Starbucks marked its grand opening on April 29.
The celebration was as much about the revitalization of a once moribund downtown area of the village, and the realized potential of transit-oriented housing.
Farmingdale Mayor Ralph Ekstrand noted the Starbucks at 121 Secatogue Ave. was the first retailer in The Jefferson, a two-building, 154-unit apartment complex that is about 90 percent occupied.
On the other side of the Long Island Rail Road tracks, due for a June completion, is The Cornerstone, with 42 units. The housing is part of $100 million development spearheaded by Farmingdale’s own Anthony Bartone.
Ekstrand thanked “our wonderful IDA of Nassau County and Ed Mangano for helping us out.”
The whistles and rumbles of passing trains occasionally drowned out the speeches, an aural reminder of the development’s driving force.
Ekstrand, in his Mayor’s Column in this issue, noted that about 4,000 commuters use the train station daily.
Among the former riders was Farmingdale Chamber of Commerce stalwart David Saul of Marketing Masters NY. For 20 years, Saul commuted to the city and as he waited for the Chamber-led ceremony to begin, he laughingly lamented that he wished there had been a Starbucks all those years. He had to content himself with not quite premium-grade coffee served from a truck.
“This is not only a great housing option, but it also stimulates the local economy,” said County Executive Ed Mangano. “The transit option works. It really is the answer for the future of our downtowns. They have to compete with box stores and malls…but the beauty of suburbia is to have wonderful downtowns.”
Mangano went on to praise the mayor, board of trustees, the Chamber of Commerce and the developers, “all those who came together, who had the vision, and made it work.”
Peter Cirrone has owned Stuff A Bagel on Main Street in the village for more than 30 years. With partner Rob Lee he took on the complicated and costly process of acquiring a Starbucks franchise.
“What’s happened in this area in the past year has been amazing,” he told the assembled, noting that the occupancy rate of retail establishments on Main Street has risen dramatically.
Cirrone told the Observer that he didn’t envision himself owning another retail business at first. “It just evolved that we got involved as Starbucks,” he said. “In the last two years there’s been such a buzz in this town. And this location, with all this development and housing, just seemed like a great opportunity to get involved. Business is up—my business is up, benefiting from the people working on the development and now by all the people that live in the buildings.”
Starbucks is run by his daughter, Kristy Cirrone.
Next door will be home to a burger bar. Two doors down a “green” dry cleaner will soon open. Across the street in the other part of The Jefferson, a salon/spa and a sushi restaurant will be operating in the near future.
Bartone, in his remarks, said the development was “the culmination of a decade’s worth of work.”
He praised consultant Eric Alexander of the Vision Project, and after noting the “palpable energy you can feel in the village now,” lauded the village/county leadership: “It starts at the top.”
“Leadership is critical,” Bartone told the Observer. “We have a mayor now and an administration that is pro-business.”
The 1991 graduate of Farmingdale High School said he was always aware of his village’s potential.
“We are blessed by geography,” he said. “We can walk to the world-class Bethpage Park Golf Course, we have the 110 corridor, Republic Airport and can hit every major roadway. We are centrally located on Long Island.”
He added, “We have express trains, less than an hour to Long Island. We have it all.”
