By Jeff Lipton
After waiting nearly three years, Cedarhurst Village officials said the repairs are nearing the end, and Long Island Rail Road officials told them they will open the building this week.
The good news is that the station [building] itself will be ready very shortly, Cedarhurst Mayor Andrew Parise said last week.
Even though the outside of the small building is still being worked on, the interior is completed and will be re-opened in time for colder weather.
The newly refurbished station building, which is on the south side of the tracks, will be equipped with a ticket agent. During renovations, with the building closed, commuters were forced to walk across the tracks to the north-side station to buy a ticket and then cross over again before the eastbound train pulled into Cedarhurst. In addition, during last year's brutal winter, commuters were forced to wait outside in the cold, without the security and warmth that the building has provided passengers in the past.
Since the [building] will be ready, people will be able to go inside the station, buy a ticket and walk to the platform, Parise said. This will all be operational.
The mayor said the LIRR is currently going over a checklist to pick up all the loose ends of the renovations.
The project was begun about 2 1/2 years ago, at a price of $1.75 million. The building may have taken so long to renovate because the LIRR wanted to preserve it, since it is one of the oldest on the line, built in the early 1900s, Parise said. They wanted to try to maintain the historic value of it and restore it, he said.
The refurbished station fits nicely into the village's renovation plans. Cedarhurst's downtown has been renovated with new sidewalks, light poles and curbs.
Workers will continue to finish the exterior of the building after it opens, and work should be completed in December, the LIRR told Parise. LIRR officials could not be reached for comment.
The exterior site work that still must be completed includes installing concrete sidewalks leading to the station, and new curbing. A four-way clock will also be installed. In addition, water fountains will be added on either side of the station.
I do see the light, Parise said. For the community, this has been very inconvenient. I don't know why it has taken so long.
He theorized that since the weather was so bad last year, it was hard to get a day's work in. If they had a bad day, the work was not all coming together, he said.
When all is said and done, I think it was worth the wait, he added. You will not find a prettier or nicer station.
Before the renovations, the building was run-down, Parise said. It will be equipped with new seating and a restroom. It's like night and day, Parise said. They are doing a magnificent job. You can't beat the workmanship.
Parise said workers had to remove the roof of the station, which contained asbestos and may have taken longer than normal to replace.
I'm very pleased that our new train station will soon be open to Cedarhurst residents, said State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre). As the facility becomes operational and the final phases are completed, it will be a wonderful new asset, providing both a source of pride for our community and a beautiful centerpiece for the downtown revitalization project.
