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Town could send fourth RFP to redevelop site on Merrick, Grand
It has been eight months since the Town of Hempstead broke off negotiations with the most recent potential developer of the property at the northwest corner of Merrick Road and Grand Avenue.
Since then, the town has looked into sending out another request for proposal for the site, and spoken with members of the Baldwin Civic Association to hear what the community would like to see there.
In recent months, according to George Bakich, commissioner of the town’s Department of Planning & Economic Development, several property owners at the site have approached the town on their own with the intention of redeveloping their properties. “We want to do something,” Bakich said. “If it can be done in a fashion other than the RFP, if a private business wants to come in and do their own thing there, no one is going to stand in anybody’s way, but we will be moving on an RFP if these [proposals] don’t pan out in a short period of time.”
In 2006, after years of neglect, the parcel was designated as blighted, which, Bakich explained in a Herald interview in January, opened up the possibility that the town could use a claim of eminent domain to take over the strip of stores on the property, along Grand Avenue, if a developer was unable to negotiate a buyout with the landlords. While three separate developers have been unable to make anything happen since then, the town has held off on claiming eminent domain, which can be costly and take years in court.
“A lot of the owners were asking for amounts that may have been excessive based on appraisals,” Bakich said, “so they were trying to get the most for their property. The community just wants to see something happen there.”
According to Bakich, a storm drain to Silver Lake runs underneath the town parking lot at the site, and nothing can be built on top of it, which further complicates matters.
The town sent out its first RFP to developers in 2007, a second in 2009 and a third in 2012. Each time, the company that was awarded the development rights was unable to turn its plans into reality. Most recently, Breslin Realty Development Corp. — the lone company that responded to the 2012 RFP — had plans to build a pharmacy on the property.
