7 Elmont businesses prepare to close

Banao Café, a Spanish restaurant located at 20 Meacham Ave. in Elmont will be closing in the coming months, according to a plan recently approved by the Hempstead Town Zoning Board of Appeals.

Jackie Nash/Herald

Seven businesses on the southwest corner of Meacham Avenue and Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont will close their doors in the coming months to make way for a Walgreens pharmacy to be built on the lot.

Christina Daly/Herald

Olga Diaz of Franklin Square, who owns Banao Cafe in Elmont with her husband, Thomas, said was shocked when she found out that a plan to build a Walgreens pharmacy, which would force her store to close, was approved last week.

Jackie Nash/Herald

Walgreens officials erected signs near the plaza in January announcing its plans to build a pharmacy there.

Christina Daly/Herald

Olga Diaz of Franklin Square, who owns Banao Cafe in Elmont with her husband, Thomas, was shocked when she found out that a plan to build a Walgreens pharmacy, which would force her store to soon close, was approved last week.

Jackie Nash/Herald

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    Seven businesses on Elmont’s east side will close in the coming months, according to a plan to build a Walgreens pharmacy that was approved 6-0 by the Hempstead Town Zoning Board of Appeals last week.

    The businesses, at 20 Meacham Ave., in a plaza on the southwest corner of Meacham and Hempstead Turnpike, include Beena Beauty, a laser and skin care salon; a Nationwide Insurance branch; Top Food Mart, a convenience store; Banao Café, a Spanish restaurant; Nassau Buyers, a gold and jewelry business, a nail salon and a beauty salon.

    The owner of the building and the surrounding lot, Clover Associates LLC, agreed to sell the site to the Walgreens Corporation more than a year ago. According to a provision in each tenant’s lease, Clover Associates is only required to provide tenants with six months’ notice before ending their contracts.

    Over the past several months, Walgreens officials have worked with their attorney, State Assemblyman Thomas McKevitt of East Meadow, to draft development plans, which include demolishing the plaza and constructing a 13,824-square-foot store with a drive-through pharmacy leading to Oakley Avenue. Signs announcing the plans were posted at the site in January.

    The proposal included three variance requests to the Zoning Board of Appeals, including a parking variance. Although the town requires 69 parking spaces for a building of this size, the plan doesn’t provide for any parking. The board waived the requirement when Clover Associates agreed to dedicate the lot on another property it owns, TJM — an auto-repair shop north of the plaza — to town municipal parking. The TJM lot connects to another town lot northwest of the plaza. The board also required that the plaza be demolished and the site graded and cleared of debris.

    Walgreens is expected to lease the property for at least 20 years.