175 Roger Ave. in Inwood is nearly demolished

For years 175 Roger Ave. in Inwood was a blemish on the community. The contaminated grounds had become overgrown with vegetation and it was used as an impromptu dumping ground for tires, sheetrock and trash.

The building began to collapse and after years of outcry from Inwood residents and business people Nassau County began the process of having the blighted site demolished.

In April 2017, the County Legislature voted to borrow $2.1 million to tear down the building. Bay Shore-based Watral Brothers Inc. was hired to raze it for $1.269 million. The work began in the fall. The project’s total cost is $1.649 million, and includes an additional $380,000 for construction management, contingency and environmental monitoring of the site.

One of the former occupants, Rockaway Metal Products Inc., manufactured file cabinets, but after the company went out of business 31 years ago, the property was used intermittently. The 155,000-square-foot structure, on a 4.85-acre parcel was declared a Superfund site after hazardous materials, including arsenic, lead and cadmium were found there by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1992.

Nassau County has owned the land and building since 1995. Damaged in a 2011 fire the building was used by homeless people as a makeshift shelter. On Oct. 4 the county held a news conference to announce the site’s demolition.

Currently the site in nearly unrecognizable, the brush and trash have been removed, as had the most dilapidated portions of the building, leaving only the frame. Nassau County spokeswoman Mary Studdert stated in an email that, “The physical building should be totally removed by the end of 2018,” she wrote. “We anticipate that there will be another month or so of work (depending on the weather) to finish cleaning up the site and installing the fencing and gates.”

At the October news conference, County Executive Laura Curran said that officials were working on a request for proposal to attract a new business and, “Get this property back on the tax rolls.”

David Daniels, a Wantagh resident, owns several residential properties on Roger Avenue and D. Daniels Contracting on the intersecting Gates Avenue. “It’s gratifying,” he said. “It’s nice to see the building finally coming down … it’s about time.”

Lifelong Inwood resident Linda Miller, expressed a similar sentiment. When asked about how it felt to see the building finally come down she said simply, “It’s awesome.” Miller added that she’d like to see residential homes built on the site, but understands that the environmental hazards could make that more unlikely.

Councilman Bruce Blakeman said in October, “We may be restricted from having housing here because of the environmental issues. “We’re going to keep an open mind to everything. The important thing is to get it cleaned up, and then we’ll figure out the proper plan with the county to make sure that it’s zoned for something that’s conducive to the community. But clearly, anything is better than this.”