Long Island Real Estate Briefs: September 28, 2007

Long Island Business News, Sep 28, 2007 by David Winzelberg

Rentals rise on ruling against Rockville Centre

An $85 million luxury apartment building on the former Darby Drug site in Rockville Centre will be built after all, despite prolonged opposition from the Village of Rockville Centre.

The New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, has denied the village's appeal of an earlier decision, which ruled that the village "failed to provide a reasoned elaboration" in its objections to the development proposal by Chase Partners. The 420,000 square-foot, 349-unit rental complex called Signature Place will be located a block from the village's Long Island Rail Road station, on a brownfield property Chase Partners will spend about $10 million to clean up.

Michael Faltischek of the Uniondale law firm Ruskin Moscou Faltischek said the decision delivers a blow to NIMBYism - and will be important in the developer's pending $25 million lawsuit against Rockville Centre, which alleges wrongful conduct in causing a five- year project delay.

"In our case, the judge made a specific finding of bad faith, which basically suggests to me that now the village has a double exposure," Faltischek said. "Not only can we go ahead with the project, but they have a significant exposure for damages because of the finding of bad faith."

The decision in the Rockville Centre case, combined with recent rulings against the Town of Oyster Bay on the proposed Syosset mall, are big victories for developers, demonstrating the court's recent proclivity to strike down objections by towns and villages that are not fully thought out nor fairly detailed.

Transit talk

Politicians, civic and business leaders and representatives of environmental groups gathered at Hofstra's Axinn Library last week to talk about traffic congestion in the suburbs and ways to steer clear of it.

Over 100 people showed up for the transportation solutions forum sponsored by the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. The forum highlighted transit-oriented development as a potential fix for one of the Island's most critical quality of life issues.

People spend more time stuck in traffic on Long Island more than anywhere else in the country, except for Los Angeles - and officials are taking a fresh look at existing mass-transit centers for some relief.

Long Island Rail Road President Helena Williams said the MTA and the LIRR are committed to exploring transit-oriented development. Williams said the railroad wants to increase ridership, generate new revenue, enhance the quality of life around stations and create opportunities for housing, which are also the goals of Long Island downtown development.

The Forest Hills and Ronkonkoma train stations and the Nassau Coliseum project were mentioned as possible targets for transit- oriented development. Citing Mineola as a precedent, Williams indicated that these areas - which are prime locations for compact, mixed-use development - may be future sites of development and partnership with the MTA.

Real Deals

l Voice Road Plaza, a 131,452-square-foot shopping center in Carle Place, was sold by California-based First Allied Corp. for $35.5 million, according to Michael Raifaisen, an executive director of Brown Harris Stevens Commercial Services. The property received one of the highest per-square-foot prices ever fetched for this kind of strip center on Long Island - $270 - probably because of its prime location, a half-mile down Glen Cove Road from the Roosevelt Field mall. Raifaisen, along with fellow BHS Executive Director Zubin Hassid, represented both the seller and the buyer, a private investment group also from the West Coast. Kimco Realty Corp., based in New Hyde Park, sold Voice Road Plaza to First Allied in 2003.

l Newsday will be keeping its Hicksville operations right where they are. The newspaper recently inked its renewed lease for another 15 years at 600 West John St., where the daily uses about 50,000 square feet for warehousing and distribution, according to Tom Tsiolis, a director at Sutton & Edwards in Lake Success.