Local elected officials, civic and business leaders joined executives of Heatherwood Luxury Apartments at a ceremony last week marking the start of construction of a $212 million mixed-use development in West Hempstead.
The Commack-based developer is constructing a two-building, 481,089-square-foot complex on the 9.4-acre former retail site at 111 Hempstead Turnpike. The property, located a short walk to the West Hempstead Long Island Rail Road station, was home to a 106,652-square-foot building that had been occupied by National Wholesale Liquidators.
Heatherwood’s new transit-oriented development will bring 428 apartments, 5,575 square feet of retail space and parking for 740 vehicles. Amenities will include indoor and outdoor fitness areas, golf simulator, gaming lounge and bar, and a 2-acre landscaped courtyard.
“Our goals for this development are straight-forward; and, with the cooperation of our partners in government and the local community, we have made great strides towards achieving them,” Heatherwood President Chris Capece said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “We will transform this blighted site, with its dilapidated building and sea of crumbling asphalt, into a beautiful and prominent ‘Gateway to West Hempstead’… and bring much-needed luxury multifamily rental housing to Long Island.”
The West Hempstead project received economic incentives from the Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency. The Hempstead IDA had originally awarded benefits to the project in Oct. 2021, but had to reauthorize the benefits after the plan went from three buildings to two. The project is expected to generate 250 construction jobs and seven permanent jobs, according to an IDA statement.
“We at Heatherwood are very pleased that this development has the backing of both the local community and the town. Together, we are bringing a first-tier, luxury multifamily housing option to West Hempstead which will not only vastly improve the neighborhood but will also enhance the residents’ quality of life in an environmentally responsible, transit-oriented development,” said Doug Partrick, Heatherwood’s CEO. “On behalf of Heatherwood, I want to extend my thanks and appreciation to our community partners in this effort, including the West Hempstead Community Support Association and Cathedral Gardens Civic Association, as well as to the Town of Hempstead, for their hard work and persistence in bringing about a winning solution for everyone.”
The West Hempstead site had been a vacant and dilapidated eyesore for several years and local officials are pleased that the new development will transform the property.
“No one here today needs to be reminded of the checkered history of this site. It has been an underutilized blight on the community for years that has gone through multiple false starts,” Hempstead Supervisor Don Clavin said at the groundbreaking event. “Now, together, we are going to change all that. This development promises to transform a large, almost 10-acre, site from a chronic eyesore into a beautiful, iconic ‘Gateway to West Hempstead’. This is an excellent example of the public and private sectors working together in good faith. When that happens, many challenges can be overcome, and intractable problems solved.”
The West Hempstead project is expected to be completed in 2027.
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