Hempstead starts over on urban renewal

Long Island Business News, Jan 11, 2008 by David Winzelberg

Apparently, the fat lady hasn't sung on urban renewal in Hempstead.

And now that a cadre of developers has expressed interest in revitalizing 26 acres of its downtown, many have a feeling of deja vu.

It was just four months ago that the Village of Hempstead tabled a proposal by Manhattan-based UrbanAmerica to transform the same blighted sight, after affordable housing advocates protested that the plan lacked enough units for lower income residents.

Last week, more than a dozen developers responded to an expression of interest from the village's Community Development Agency on a mixed-use project that would include residential, retail, office, open space, parking and entertainment.

Ironically, UrbanAmerica had proposed a $2 billion plan for Hempstead that included 2,500 condos, 600,000 square feet of retail and office space and a performing arts center. But after months of trying, UrbanAmerica supporter Mayor Wayne Hall couldn't sway enough village trustees to vote his way and the plan was pulled from consideration in August.

UrbanAmerica Vice President Ed Scott said the village's new request is "terribly similar" to the one his company has been working with them on for the last two years.

"So close, in fact," Scott said, "that we feel very disappointed in the path it's taken."

Although UrbanAmerica was not one of the names on the list of responding developers obtained by LIBN, Scott said his company is still "very interested in the site."

They are not alone, joined by companies such as the Blumenfeld Development Group, Archstone Smith, the Beechwood Organization, Breslin Realty and the Albanese Organization, all who want a piece of the Hempstead pie.

"We're interested in participating in some capacity," said Russ Matthews, executive vice president of Albanese in Garden City. Matthews said the company's proximity and past performance in revitalizing Franklin Avenue make it a natural for working with Hempstead Village, just a half-mile south.

Trammell Crow Residential is another company on the village's list.

"There is clearly opportunity for redevelopment in Hempstead," said Maria Rigopolous, a development associate with Trammell Crow. The company is currently in contract to buy the Courtesy Hotel in West Hempstead so it can build market-rate apartments.

To kick off Hempstead's new search for a downtown savior, the village last month held a visioning workshop attended by Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi. But Mayor Hall said several people who attended the meeting had tunnel vision over how much affordable housing would be included in any development of downtown.

A group called ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, had asked that half of the residential units developed in the village be sold for below-market rates to lower-income people.

But Mayor Hall said Hempstead already has plenty of housing for low-income residents and that the area has been a dumping ground for halfway houses, as well as churches and other structures that do not pay taxes.

"We have nearly one-third of our property off the tax rolls," Hall said. "They expect us to put this stuff here. Hempstead already has a bad reputation. We don't need more low-income housing in Hempstead, and it's not going to happen."

Hall said that even though ACORN supported him in his campaign for mayor, they're not going to tell him how to run the village.

"I know what I need here," Hall said. "I never promised that I was going to have low-income housing here."

Diane Goins, an ACORN member and Hempstead resident for the last 10 years, said she isn't against luxury housing, but thinks the new development should be "income-tiered" to give opportunity to young people coming out of college.

"We're not building a ghetto or a housing project," Goins said. "We want luxury, but we want it to be tiered."

Meanwhile the mayor said his vision for the village has not dimmed, despite the personal politics that he said torpedoed the UrbanAmerica plan.

"A lot of people came up to me and were disappointed that this project was pulled," Hall said. "They know that Hempstead needs to have something. One thing they know we don't need is more low- income housing."