Marina Pointe condos begin selling in East Rockaway, Oceanside

About one-third of Marina Pointe’s 84 condominiums under construction on the border of East Rockaway and Oceanside are already under contract, according to Lou Nicosia, the sales manager of Marina Pointe. Residents are expected to be able to move into select buildings in January, and will enjoy all of Marina Pointe’s amenities when construction is completed next June.

The buyers are interested in the condominiums due to the location, Nicosia said. The complex is located on Mill River at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Ocean Avenue. It is located in front of the East Rockaway Long Island Rail Road station and across the street from the Best Market.

“We’ve attracted both young professionals who want to take advantage of the transportation option with the Long Island Rail Road right across the street, and we also attracted a lot of downsizers,” Nicosia said, adding that these downsizers are “folks that have lived across the South Shore from the Five Towns through Garden City, Rockville Centre, and Lynbrook that would like to stay local because their kids and grandkids are here.”

Nicosia said that having the children attend one school district made more sense than splitting the residents based on the border line, which runs right through the middle of the complex. “You’d have two different buses coming in and out,” he said. “It would be silly.”

Several years earlier, however, the land belonged to Davison’s Boat Yard, which was destroyed in Hurricane Sandy. When Beechwood Homes, the developer of Marina Pointe, procured the property, the developers needed to ensure that the condominiums would survive another storm. “We looked at the site and said, ‘How can we redevelop this in an intelligent way?’” Steven Dubb, the principal of Beechwood Homes, said in a Vision Long Island YouTube video.

They therefore elevated the property by 3 feet and raised the residences by another 10 feet. They also built a new walkable bulkhead and installed a new drainage system. These improvements made Marina Pointe a Long Island Business News 2017 Top Smart-Growth Project, and led the complex to be publicly endorsed by Vision Long Island Director Eric Alexander, former Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray and East Rockaway Building Department Supervisor Tom Smith.

The end result is a big improvement, according to East Rockaway Mayor Bruno Romano. “Residents will live in a property beautifully transformed from a dilapidated old boatyard,” he said.

To take advantage of the waterfront location, residents can rent boat slips and dock their boats on Mill River. To get a boat slip, residents would have to get approval from the homeowner’s association, and they would be rented out at a rate of $100 per beam foot. There are 31 boat slips available for the complex’s 84 units. But, according to Nicosia, there should be enough slips for anyone who wants one.

The complex would offer 54 suites and 30 villas, each with open floor plans. They have hardwood flooring and plush carpets in the bedrooms. There are options for a balcony and an elevator.

The suites that are currently available have two bedrooms and two bathrooms. They have an average living area of about 1,200 square feet and range from $460,000 to $640,000. The villas are two-story condominiums that have an average living space of about 1,550 square feet. The villas also have underground parking, and cost between $535,000 and $665,000.