Thirteen years after Hurricane Sandy reshaped the South Shore, John Vitale, a developer and the president of Vitale Properties, says the final piece of his waterfront vision is rising along the Barnum Island shoreline.
The Bridgeview, a 117-unit luxury apartment building under construction on the former site of the Bridgeview Yacht Club, represents that last of Vitale’s properties to be elevated above potential flood levels. The $45 million project stands as both a personal milestone for Vitale and a long-term investment in the future of Island Park.
“It was a goal of mine to have completed all my properties and making them safe and flood-resilient for the future,” he said.
Vitale, 71, began rethinking his waterfront holdings after Sandy devastated the once-thriving strip of bars, restaurants and nightclubs that he spent decades building. Paddy McGee’s, Coyote Grill and the Bridgeview Yacht Club all sustained extensive damage, and rising insurance costs made reopening them increasingly impractical.
In the months that followed, Vitale — along with his son, Dylan, now 38, his partner in Vitale Properties — chose a new direction for roughly 10 acres of waterfront property: residential development. That shift began with the Channel Club, an apartment community, built on the former site of Paddy McGee’s, which opened in 2019 and was fully leased within six months. The Bridgeview is now rising beside the Long Beach Bridge, reshaping a neighborhood once defined by nightlife into a residential community.
“The synergies of housing just worked for the neighborhood,” Vitale said.
The Bridgeview has been designed with extensive flood-mitigation measures. The property has been raised 3 feet, and all of the apartments will be at least 20 feet above sea level. Mechanical systems, too, are well above flood levels, and the building will include flood vents, a storm drainage system and a rebuilt outfall pipe intended to improve drainage efficiency for the surrounding neighborhood.
“These are some of the safest units on the South Shore, not just Island Park,” Vitale said.
While flooding remains a reality for many South Shore communities, Vitale said that resilient construction is key to adapting to future storms. “Our neighborhood isn’t much different from many South Shore communities, so there will always be flooding, but the properties and the housing will now be safe,” he said. “It’s similar to how many houses were raised after Sandy.”
The development has received support from local officials, who have agreed to a tax incentive aimed at encouraging new housing and offsetting the high costs of construction in flood-prone areas. Under the agreement, the Bridgeview will eventually pay roughly $1 million annually in payments in lieu of taxes, Vitale said — about 10 times what the former catering hall generated.
Vitale said the additional tax revenue would benefit schools and municipal services while helping ease the tax burden on neighboring homeowners.
“Bringing more people to feed into the local economy, the taxes that will be generated over the next 20 years and beyond will help keep residential taxes down,” he said. “Taxes grow with these large projects, taking some of the burden off the neighboring properties.”
Rental prices are expected to reflect the cost of construction and flood mitigation, with one-bedroom apartments starting at around $3,500 per month and two-bedroom units averaging about $4,300. Vitale said that demand for waterfront housing remains strong, and that he expects the building to attract both young professionals and retirees looking to downsize while staying in the area.
“Bringing new people into the community of Island Park pays tremendous economic benefits, and will spur the revitalization of the village,” he said. “There are so many towns and villages on Long Island that have been reinvented by embracing development near train stations and walkable communities, and I think Island Park is a prime example of a village that is going to benefit greatly from these types of projects.”
Vitale noted that one of the greatest challenges of the redevelopment process was time — from planning and approvals to construction readiness.
“While I’m still young and healthy enough, I wanted to make sure that this property became safe and successful for the next generation,” he said.
A lifelong Long Islander, he opened his first restaurant, Paddy McGee’s, in 1985. Though most of his former waterfront restaurants are gone, his commitment to Island Park remains unchanged.
“I look to build things for the long term,” Vitale said. “Island Park has been good to me, and I’m hoping to return the favor and help the village thrive and continue what we call down here the renaissance of Island Park.”
