Mercy to sell land to Molloy College

Mercy’s loss is Molloy’s gain, as the college is set to buy parking space from the hospital. Molloy College will transform this purchased property from Mercy Medical Center into 381 parking spaces.

The 3.8 acres of the Mercy property is currently an unpaved rock surface parallel to Reeve Road, on the southwestern side of Molloy’s campus. Mercy owns the property, and cars already park on this lot. Molloy College has leased this property from Mercy since 2001.

The purchase is expected to go through in May, although the Rockville Centre Planning Board must approve the new site plans beforehand. Both Molloy and Mercy’s modified plans are up for approval at the next meeting on May 12. Molloy will also meet with the village Board of Zoning Appeals on May 6.

This purchase is part of phase two of Molloy’s master development plan. In Phase Three, Molloy will convert part of its existing parking lot — on the north side of the campus, adjacent to the Southern State parkway — into a parking garage. In the meantime, that parking lot will be reconstructed and rearranged to create 338 spaces.

“The college’s acquisition of the land it’s leasing from Mercy will provide the additional surface parking needed for phase two,” said George Rice, the attorney representing Molloy at the Feb. 11 Board of Zoning Appeals meeting. “Thereby allowing the construction of a parking garage to be moved to phase three, which was originally proposed in the original master plan.”

Molloy must also receive a variance because the proposed parking spaces will be smaller than village code requires — 60 feet instead of 63 feet and 4 inches for two adjacent rows of parking, and 42 feet instead of 45 feet and 4 inches for one row of parking. The college has received this variance before in 2009 and 2013. “Using the smaller dimensions will benefit both the college and the community by insuring adequate… parking then what is available on campus,” said Rice. “It will serve the students, faculty, staff and visitors and minimize parking on neighboring streets.”

Phase One of the college’s Master Plan, which was completed in 2011, involved the construction of a new residence hall, campus center and maintenance building. The Planning Board has determined that the new parking would not have a significant negative effect on the environment at its April 21 meeting. By the end of this development, Molloy will have 1,640 spaces total. Zoning laws require it to have 1631 spaces.