Demolition announcement and new center planned in Lawrence
The building and former home to the Five Towns Community Center, at 270 Lawrence Ave. in Lawrence will be demolished and the Nassau County Police Activity League, along with Operation Overwatch, a unit of the county police department, will function on property, where a new facility will be built.
County Executive Bruce Blakeman held a news conference in Lawrence on Sept. 30 to announce the update.
The community center’s 100-year lease ended on July 3, and the county assumed control of the property.
“For many, many years, the Five Towns Community Center operated, but in the last 10 years, we've seen the steady decline of the operations here,” Blakeman said. “The building had fallen into disrepair and we felt that we needed to make a change to improve conditions here and provide a community center that the people can be proud of in this community.”
In January 2023, the county issued a request for proposal, seeking people or entities looking to lease the property and provide youth-oriented services.
“We got two very, very interesting responses,” Blakeman said, of the Lawrence School District and Marion & Aaron Gural JCC’s proposals. “But individually, those responses didn't add up to what we really envisioned here, and that was for a community center that would be run by an organization that was used to running programs for the children of this community and the surrounding areas. Also, we wanted to increase the security in this area, so we went back to the drawing board.”
Blakeman said NCPAL, which provides a variety of sports programs for children, was the best fit. He added the Operation Overwatch unit, will function out of the property full-time, with 20 active police officers.
“The additional activities and police presence will be appreciated by the residents of the Five Towns,” Stacey Feldman, executive director of the Gural JCC said, when she learned of the news.
He also said that the county is in negotiations with a non-for-profit to provide services from the space, but did not disclose the organization due to pending negotiations.
The Head Start Program, which provides low-income children with healthy development skills, was installed by the community center and has still been functioning from 270 Lawrence after the lease’s end. Blakeman said these services would continue as long as the building is standing.
Additionally, the food pantry, started by the community center and still functioning from the property, may relocate to the Inwood Buccaneers Athletic Club building at 275 Lawrence Ave. based on the results of negotiations, Syd Mandelbaum, CEO of Rock and Wrap It Up! a Cedarhurst based anti-poverty think tank, said.
The physical building will be demolished, Blakeman said, and a new building will be erected. Funding for the project will come from a capital program approved by Presiding Officer Howard Kopel, Blakeman said.
“This is a great day, stabilizing this neighborhood, making it beautiful, the same way that the rest of the area is, most importantly of all, making it safe,” Kopel said.
U.S. Representative Anthony D’Esposito also secured three million dollars in federal funds for the David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence, a police academy in Garden City, which will be diverted to put towards the new Lawrence NCPAL center, Blakeman said.
“Here we are announcing another opportunity, an opportunity to partner with the Police Athletic League giving children in this community a safe haven to enjoy themselves, to collaborate, to communicate,’ D’Esposito said.
Gwynn Campbell, president of the Five Towns Community Center Board, said the Five Towns Community Center as an entity is currently operating out of Lawrence Woodmere Academy in Woodmere, and is continuing to determine what their future will look like.
“Now that this has been announced, all the best,” Campbell said.
Murray Forman, president of Lawrence district school board, did not respond to a request for comment.
