Downtown project rendering revealed

A rendering of a proposal for the long-awaited Baldwin downtown revitalization project has been released by the Town of Hempstead Planning Department, and a public hearing on it is scheduled for March 23.

Submitted to the town by Albanese Development — one of two remaining bidders looking to develop property on Grand Avenue — the proposal consists of a residential/retail mix that would stretch from just south of Baldwin Fire Department headquarters to Merrick Road and then west to Gale Avenue. The current plan calls for one story of retail shops below four stories of high-end, one-bedroom apartments, and is said to be geared toward Baldwin's young professionals. Parking will be available in front of the building and also in an underground lot. The second proposal is a CVS.

Town spokeswoman Susan Trenkle-Pokalsky said that the Albanese Development proposal is still being reviewed by the town planning department, but officials intend to recommend it to the town board for review on March 23.

"This [proposal] has not been adopted by the town board," Trenkle-Pokalsky told the Herald. "There will be a public hearing when it will possibly designate the developer.”

Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony Santino, who has made the Grand Avenue revitalization project one of his top priorities in recent years, said that even at such a critical point in negotiations, there is still much work to be done.

"[The hearing] is the very, very first step of the project," Santino said.

While stopping short of officially endorsing the plan, he said that the proposal would fit the town's vision of having a walkable downtown where people could live and shop. He said that the CVS proposal was "totally unnecessary" for Baldwin.

"The choices are: this proposal, which I think is a substantive, promising proposal or do nothing, and continue to let [Grand Avenue] be blighted," Santino said. "It's that simple."