What’s coming to the ‘Tofu’ place in Lynbrook?

After?... The rendering that Zwanger-Pesiri architects presented to the Lynbrook Village Board of Trustees on Feb. 21.

Courtesy Zwanger-Pesiri

Before ... Construction is currently taking place at the former site of the Tofu Restaurant on Sunrise Highway.

Brian Croce/Herald

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The design for a new radiology building on Sunrise Highway was presented before the Lynbrook Board of Trustees on Feb. 21, but was not given unanimous approval to be put into action — although the board was excited to welcome Zwanger-Pesiri to the village.

Architects, Cathy Masci and Jack Rosebery, from Zwanger-Pesiri, a radiology practice that is looking to expand its brand further west on Long Island, unveiled their latest design to the board. Currently, Zwanger has nine locations; its furthest west branch is in Merrick.

The radiology practice will be taking the place of the vacant Tofu restaurant after talks with the village board started in 2011.

“Our branding image of our company is to be forward moving, hi-tech, our equipment is the best, our building should look like it’s the best,” Masci said.

The location in Lynbrook will be the second building Zwanger builds from the ground up, in addition to their building in Merrick, which has a sleek, modern look. “I think the building is beautiful,” Masci said of the design. “I don’t think it’s as modern, and glass, and granite shiny as our Merrick building, so I think that it makes a good transition into a village location.”

Trustee Tom Atkinson had some reservations about the proposed design and said he would a rather a building with a “more traditional” look be built in the village. “Everything surrounding that has an older, traditional look,” Atkinson said of the area, “coupled with we just made an investment on over $1 million on our streetlamps that have a much more traditional look too. I’m not anti-new building. I think in this location we want a more traditional look.”

According to Rosebery, people expect their medical buildings to be modern in this day and age. “I am a traditionalist by heart,” Rosebery said, “but I also understand the need in the medical environment to have the modernistic look and then have the ability to have the modernistic look that would make people come in and say, ‘gee, these people are modern, they’re up-to-date, they’re up to standards.’ The people want to see, for better or worse, the image of the modern medicine, the image of the modern technology that you bring with it.”