Capri checks out

Cornerstone at Yorkshire moves forward in Lynbrook after motel ceases operations

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The Capri Lynbrook Motor Inn closed for good April 9, and the building will soon be demolished to make way for an 80-unit, $24 million rental apartment complex.

The motel had operated at 5 Freer St. since 1960. In recent years, Lynbrook village officials have worked to shut it down after a series of arrests for prostitution there. There was also a heroin overdose.

Mayor Alan Beach said, “Watching a property that has been a source of blight and frustration, both for our residents and Police Department, be redeveloped into a beautiful, Tudor-style structure that respects the architectural history of the Yorkshire neighborhood is a proud moment for the entire village.”

Farmingdale-based Terwilliger & Bartone Properties will demolish the old motel and build the new Cornerstone at Yorkshire. The project is slated to get under way later this spring. Developers said they did not expect the coronavirus pandemic to delay the work, and anticipate beginning to lease apartments in the summer of 2021, which will be followed by a grand opening that fall. The company purchased the property from its owners in a private sale.

The apartments will feature quartz counters, stainless steel appliances and high ceilings, and the complex will have a fitness center, clubroom and courtyard. It will comprise eight two-bedroom apartments that will rent for about $3,400 per month, 44 one-bedroom units that will cost roughly $2,800 and 28 studios, which will be about $2,300 per month. Eight units will be set aside as workforce housing, which, under Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations, must have reduced rents for households earning up to 80 percent of the median income for the area.

“We are proud to be moving a step closer to the monumental transformation that will soon take place on this site and bring overwhelming benefits to the community at large,” said Anthony Bartone, managing partner for Terwilliger & Bartone Properties. “Not only will this redevelopment remove what has been viewed as a nuisance property, but it will also inject new foot traffic and discretionary spending downtown.”

The village board approved the project, 4-1, last November, and the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency unanimously granted a PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes, agreement for it on Feb. 27. The IDA okayed a mortgage-recording tax abatement, a sales-tax abatement and a 20-year PILOT for the four-story building, which will begin at the present tax level of $228,155 per year and gradually increase to $1.1 million by its final year.

Bartone has tried for years to build an apartment complex in Lynbrook, and said he thought the Capri was a good site for one because it has been a neighborhood nuisance for many years.

Last month, motel general manager Henry Wagner told the Herald that the facility’s managing partner felt the time was right to sell the property, adding that the village’s claims against the motel were never proven in a court of law.

“We’ve never had any issue from the [village] regarding the closing of our property because we knew everything they accused us of was bogus,” he said. 

Many residents have spoken out against the Capri in recent years, and are now meeting the redevelopment plan with approval. When Bartone previously tried to build a 200-unit complex and a four-story parking garage downtown, it led to resident backlash and a heated mayoral race between Beach and Hilary Becker, the former deputy mayor and current trustee. Becker was the lone board member to vote against the new project last November, saying at the time that the PILOT details were not yet available.

Terwilliger & Bartone hosted an open house at the Knights of Columbus in August to meet with residents and gather their input on the project. The firm then developed a site plan, which it went public with at an October public hearing before the village board ultimately approved it.

For updates on the project, or to learn more, visit cornerstoneyorkshire.com.