Former laundry facility to be converted to self-storage

A commercial laundry facility on Long Beach Road, formerly Oceanside Institutional Industries, is slated to become a self-storage facility in the coming months after the Town of Hempstead granted a permit to the incoming developer last month.

The two-story building, at 2525 Long Beach Rd., which is in the process of being purchased by LSC Development, a construction and renovation firm, will become a Life Storage facility once the renovations are completed.

The 76,000-square-foot plant once cleaned 60 million pounds of laundry each year, but closed in June due to economic reasons, according to a report from the state’s Department of Labor. Some 171 workers lost their jobs. The remainder of OII was sold to Unitex, a commercial laundry company, the following month.

According to a report by American Laundry News, the principal owners of the plant, Dominick and Frank Ferrara, said they were “tired” after 40 years of running the family business with no heir to continue on.

The new building will reportedly house 716 storage units, and the parking lot will not require a variance for its use. Christian Browne, an attorney with Sahn Ward Coschignano PLLC, represented LSC Development in obtaining the special-use permit for the reconstruction of the building.

He said in a news release that nearby residents complained of the traffic and noise caused by the laundry delivery trucks, as well as chemical smells resulting from the laundering process. Browne also said the property would be remediated for any environmental contamination. The Department of Environmental Conservation has records of only minor oil spill contamination at the site.

“This new project is a home run for the developers and the community,” Browne said in a statement. “It will reduce the amount of traffic in front of the facility along Long Beach Road and the impacts on the neighbors. The building will be repurposed, so it won’t be torn down and it won’t place any further encumbrances on the residents.”