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Fair Town board approves long-awaited Baldwin development
Baldwin residents have waited for almost a decade to see the Downtown Revitalization Initiative come to fruition in the form of new development, and last week they received welcome news.
The Hempstead town board gave its approval Dec. 7 to Breslin Realty’s The Grand At Baldwin — a four-story, 215-unit, mixed-use, transit-oriented apartment complex that will be built on the southeast corner of Sunrise Highway and Grand Avenue, across Sunrise from the Long Island Rail Road station.
Nassau County Legislator Debra Mulé said that this is the first major project that the board has approved within Baldwin’s mixed-use overlay district, a centerpiece of the downtown initiative.
“After more than three decades of promises, it is encouraging to see that the Town of Hempstead is heeding the demands of Baldwin residents by taking this important first step toward downtown revitalization,” Mulé said. “I am hopeful that today’s long-awaited victory will serve as a major catalyst for getting shovels into the ground and elevating Baldwin as a beacon of community-driven smart growth in our region.”
Baldwin Chamber of Commerce President Erik Mahler said the development’s completion would give the Baldwin business community an increased customer base as well as and an aesthetically pleasing modern building in the center of the community. He said he believed it would take six months or more for Breslin Realty to file building permits and get shovels in the ground to begin construction.
“For once we are not going backward,” Mahler said. “We haven’t seen a development of this scale in Baldwin probably in my lifetime.”
Justin Breslin, vice president of Breslin Realty, said at a chamber meeting on Oct. 12 that it would take four to six months of planning to create architectural drawings, and another three months to secure building permits.
David Orwasher, chief development officer for Breslin Realty, said he estimated that construction of the development could start within a year.
“It will be a proud addition, both aesthetically and in the quality of construction, to the Baldwin community,” Orwasher said.
The Grand At Baldwin, which will cost an estimated $110 million to build, will have commercial space on the first floor, and four floors of apartments above. The 1.7-acre property, at 2134-2138 Grand, is now a vacant lot used for parking by a car dealer.
Transit-oriented development is a type of urban planning that maximizes residential, commercial and leisure space within walking distance of public transportation, The Grand would fall into that category because of its proximity to the train station and its building setbacks, which will be five to 10 feet back from the curbs along Grand and Sunrise, allowing for the use of pedestrian-friendly elements like delineated sidewalks and planters, as well as bollards along the sidewalk to protect pedestrians from the street.
The development will have 46 studio apartments, 138 one-bedroom units and 31 two-bedrooms, with rents starting at $2,500, $2,700 and $3,500, respectively. Twenty-two of the apartments — five studios, 14 one-bedrooms and three two-bedrooms — will be categorized as “workforce” housing, with lower rents.
The Baldwin Downtown Revitalization Initiative was funded by a $10 million grant awarded to the Town of Hempstead and Baldwin by the state to redevelop and revitalize the area around the LIRR station.
Many local residents and businesses have expressed their support for the effort to attract new people and enterprises to town.
