Holding out hope for blighted site

The Town of Hempstead hopes to know by the end of the month whether a prospective developer is willing to take on the task of improving the blighted property at the corner of Grand Avenue and Merrick Road.

George Bakich, commissioner of planning and economic development for the town, said last week that two developers responded to the town’s most recent request for qualifications from developers. The request went out in the fall.

Since then, one developer dropped out of the process. The remaining developer asked for an extension for his proposal, because he was trying to contact all the property owners in the area. One reason for the holdup was that the developer wanted to find out how many of the individual properties at the site he could obtain, Bakich said.

Bakich said he granted the extension request, given that only one developer responded. But he said he expected the town would hear more from the developer within a couple of weeks.

“He asked for more time,” Bakich said. “I decided to give him more time.” Bakich declined to name the developer, or to discuss the nature of his proposal.

“He knows what the community has been looking for,” Bakich said. “I imagine he’s trying to go in a direction like that.”

But Bakich stressed that by the end of the month, if the developer can’t put a package together, other options would be brought to the table. He said he had some specific ideas on that, but he declined to say what they are.

“We’ll need to sit down with the new administration and a couple of others,” Bakich said, referring to new Town Supervisor Tony Santino. Bakich pledged that he would look at the future of the site “aggressively.”

“We’ll immediately sit down and have these meetings,” he said.

Developers have responded to requests for proposals three times since 2007, but for various reasons, none of the requests have panned out. Now, with the request for qualifications issued in the fall, the town hoped to gather all of the parties involved — potential developers, property owners, lawmakers and others — in one room to discuss the project.

Erin King Sweeney, the Hempstead Town Board member who has been working with community leaders on plans for the site, said,

“I remain 100 percent committed to development on Grand Avenue. I expect the town will be moving expeditiously. I look forward to continuing to work with the Baldwin community.”

In 2006, the property was designated as blighted after years of neglect. That made it possible for the town to claim eminent domain to take over the strip of stores along Grand Avenue. But even though efforts to redevelop the site were unsuccessful, the town has held off on the eminent-domain option.

Bakich said he didn’t know why only developer stuck with the process this time. “We did have other responses” in the past, he said. “That’d be one of the discussions that we’d have. I have ideas, but I can’t share them.”