AvalonBay on schedule to open next year

Work on AvalonBay Phase II may be in the early stages, but it is still on schedule to open in a year.

“Construction is going great,” said Chris Capece, AvalonBay’s senior development director. “We’re progressing forward. We’re still in the excavation foundation phase, the early stages right now.”

The planned 165-unit addition to the current AvalonBay apartment complex has a planned opening of spring 2017. “We haven’t run into any real challenges yet,” Capece said of the construction. “We had somewhat of a mild winter so we were okay.”

Built on the former site of Rockville Racquet on North Centre Avenue, the new building will have three-bedroom townhouses and studio apartments, in addition to one- and two-bedrooms units. Phase I across the street only has one- and two-bedrooms in its 349 units. To help maximize space in the studios, he said, AvalonBay is introducing “gear walls” for the first time on Long Island. They are large wall racks that store things like bicycles, so they don’t take up floor space.

Phase II already has a considerable waiting list, although the exact numbers are not available yet. Capece said he would have a better idea at the end of the year, when the marketing campaign for the new building starts.

In the meantime, current AvalonBay residents can use the two recently installed vehicles from the car-sharing company Zipcar. Zipcar offers members rental cars by the hour or day. Members use a card to unlock cars, which they can rent from as short a time as one hour to as long as a week. Insurance and gas are included in the cost of the rental. Capece said that it was great for AvalonBay residents, who may need a second car at times but do not want to take on the expenses of owning one.

Zipcar also gained two spots across town at Molloy College.