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Fair Finding a home on Merrick Road
Baldwin Commons expected to have 33 apartments available
New York state has issued $3.1 million for development in Baldwin’s downtown, earmarked for the construction of 33 apartments at 785 Merrick Road in the new Baldwin Commons. The grant is part of a total of $104 million awarded to create 864 affordable homes in 16 developments statewide.
Gov.Kathy Hochul announced the grant on July 6, saying it is one step in her $25 billion, five-year statewide housing plan. The new apartments are expected to attract seniors, veterans and other vulnerable populations and help create more diverse neighborhoods while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“With sustainable designs, on-site supportive services and expanded access to free or low-cost broadband internet, we’re not just building homes with these awards,” Hochul said. “We’re creating vibrant, more enduring communities.”
The transit- and workforce-oriented development is in addition to Baldwin’s $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant, part of a statewide effort to create more vibrant and walkable downtowns.
The developer of Baldwin Commons is Park Grove Development LLC, which plans to construct a four-story, 32,000- square-foot building. The number of units, and their sizes and rents, have yet to be detailed.
“In both cases, projects to revitalize Baldwin won out in fiercely competitive statewide bidding processes,” State Assemblywoman Judy Griffin wrote on Facebook, referring to Baldwin Commons and the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, “even as the Town of Hempstead continues to delay the breaking of ground in the DRI, which risks losing developers who are ready to get to work. At the state level, I have continued to advocate for Baldwin’s fair share of funding.”
Baldwin Commons is expected to be the first project to go before a five-person Town of Hempstead review board for DRI developments — a body that is expected to be finalized at the July 19 Town Board meeting.
Darien Ward, president of the Baldwin Civic Association, said he hoped the grant would help the downtown grow. “The bottom line is we’re just looking to have a collection of community, people who can keep the downtown viable,” Ward said. “If people are making $60,000 a year and get a little bit better and make $80,000 a year, that’s great, that’s growth. Then everybody on the top scale starts to rise up, too.”
Ward said that Baldwin Commons tenants would most likely be those on fixed incomes and seniors looking to downsize but who are not interested in assisted-living communities. The building will be within a quarter-mile of Baldwin’s Long Island Rail Road station.
Not everyone is happy about downtown development. Marie Brown wrote to the Herald to express her concern, saying that the “death blow” was the state’s designation of Baldwin’s downtown as “blighted.” Now, with the planned addition of apartment buildings, Brown wrote, “Our Baldwin leaders are doing a great job of converting Baldwin from a beautiful quiet community into our own version of Queens. All due to the lure of federal grant money. It’s very sad, and it was totally unnecessary.”
The awards announced are provided through New York State Homes and Community Renewal’s Multifamily Finance RFP, a competitive process used to award federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to multifamily housing developments. The state’s 16 new developments will be required to meet green building standards as part of Homes and Community Renewal’s efforts to achieve the goals set by the state Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.
The CLCPA, the most ambitious climate and energy plan in the nation, requires an 85 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050, and eventually net zero emissions across all sectors of the economy.
