A CVS Pharmacy will be moving into the vacant lot on the corner of Hillside Avenue and Herricks Road, builders announced at a Lakeville Estates Civic Association meeting Wednesday night.
The vacant storefronts on the Hillside Avenue and Herricks Road lot, previously home to Nathan’s, Sweet Pea and a medical building, will be knocked down to make way for a large CVS Pharmacy.
With the addition of the spacious CVS, smaller CVS storefronts in Williston Park and another on Hillside Avenue will close, according to the developers.
“I like this change. That was a deserted area. This is something helpful to the community. It is not controversial,” Councilwoman Christine Liu said. “This is a wonderful improvement and no longer an eyesore to this community.”
Liu said the CVS Pharmacy fills a need in the area, since a Rite Aid across the street from the empty lot closed a few years ago.
The CVS store will not be a 24-hour location: The store will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., or possibly to 11 p.m., the builders said.
CVS has a 20-year lease on the property, the builders said.
While Liu said the building plans are still in the “infancy stage,” developers presented a tentative blueprint of the building, which includes a drive-thru, expanded parking and two exits and entrances.
Both of the exit and entrance points are as far as possible from the intersection to mitigate traffic and accidents, the developers said.
The developers said they made an application about a month ago. They are aiming to have the building application approved by the town planning board by the end of the year, start construction by the end of spring next year and open sometime in 2026, the builders said.
The project traffic engineer said they were “looking to beautify” the area with additional green landscaping and will only create parking where it is necessary to prevent a “sea of parking lot.” The builders are proposing 58 parking spaces in the plan, they said.
The traffic engineer said CVS will stay on top of the landscaping at this property in response to resident concerns that other nearby CVS locations have been left to deteriorate over time.
“You’re making an investment in the community when you do something like this so you obviously want to keep up with it,” the traffic engineer said.
The builders said the proposed additional landscaping will mitigate water run off.
CVS has yet to conduct a traffic study near the lot location, the developers said.
Residents shared concerns about the safety of making turns in and out of the parking lot, and were encouraged to direct those questions to the Town of North Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals.
Residents also asked about the nearby bowling alley, which currently uses part of the area designated for the new CVS as additional parking.
Builders said the bowling alley has agreed to use parking space behind its property and will have “sufficient” parking.
