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A Few Clouds Courtesy Hotel could close as soon as summer
To the delight of many in West Hempstead, the infamous Courtesy Hotel is just months away from extinction, as the developer who plans to cultivate the plot is in the final stages of closing on the property.
Rubble will be all that's left of the crime-ridden Hempstead Avenue hotel this summer, after Trammell Crow Residential razes the property it has been in contract to purchase since March 2006.
"We're finishing up our plans, going into the Town [of Hempstead] with our building permit application – don't anticipate any problems," said TCR spokeswoman Maria Rigopoulos. "It will go through its normal administrative process and review, and then, when we get our building permit, we close, start construction, demolish that hotel."
The announcement garnered a joyous response from the community, which has longed to hear it for a number of years.
"I think this is tremendous news for the community," Town of Hempstead Councilman Edward Ambrosino said.
Rosalie Norton, president of the West Hempstead Community Support and Civic Associations, has been waiting for the last 13 years to see the Courtesy come down as it has depressed the area around it and brought crime into the neighborhood, including prostitution, assaults and robberies. It has also served as a home to several registered sex offenders.
The hotel, according to residents, created an air of danger and discomfort, as well as the appearance of neglect. And they're certainly happy to see it go. "The removal of the Courtesy Hotel ... would be welcomed by all the members of the community," said Sharon Lovy, a West Hempstead resident and realtor who works for Sharona Beck Realty.
In its place will be the Alexan at West Hempstead Station, a 150-unit, four-story complex that features market-rate rental apartments – a building complex West Hempstead residents lobbied for years to have replace the seedy hotel, contending that the project is the catalyst the community needs to start its revitalization.
