Friday, July 18, 2025
A redevelopment project may be on the horizon for a shopping center in East Meadow.
East Meadow Plaza, which occupies space between Front Street and Hempstead Turnpike, houses CarMax, a company that specializes in selling used cars. Currently, CarMax occupies a 10,285-square-foot building and is looking to expand with a 2,500 square-foot addition. The proposals, as well as other developments, were discussed at a Council of East Meadow Community Organizations meeting on June 17.
The plans — which were handed out to meeting attendees — were explained by Bill Bonesso, a land use attorney for Forchelli Deegan Terrana Law. He was joined by representatives from CarMax as well as the property’s owners, Salisbury Associates.
“CarMax has done very well at this site,” Bonesso said, referencing a blown-up version of the site plans, “and frankly, they need more space. They need more space to accommodate customers.”
Bonesso said CarMax already has an automotive repair and servicing center in the current space that is not growing, but rather hopefully moving into the expansion. The original building will be filled with additional sales and administrative offices.
Two additional tenants were outlined in the CarMax development plan, including a space that is approved for a restaurant with a drive through and an existing building set to be modified for a fitness center. There is currently no bid slated to go into the restaurant space, but the fitness center will likely be occupied by Planet Fitness.
The development at East Meadow Plaza backs up to another project by Regency Centers, which will include a major renovation and parking lot restructure at the Stew Leonard’s grocery store, which faces Front Street, and the shopping center behind it, which faces Hempstead Turnpike, and houses a Lidl and other stores. Those changes were first discussed at another CEMCO meeting held in September of last year, and moving along now that approvals from the Town of Hempstead are in place. Everything in the plot will undergo major changes to improve appearance, cleanliness, and safety.
Regency’s improvements will feature much needed repairs to sidewalks, rebuilt fencing, improved sight lines when leaving the traffic center onto a main road, and a rework of the circulation of traffic in the parking lot to reduce speeding.
Currently, there is no roadway between the Stew Leonard’s and Lidl parking lots, but one will be added once the project comes to conclusion. A timeline for the project is still in the works, but new signage is planned to go up soon, improving the lot’s aesthetics.
On the CarMax side, Bonesso said they will have to ask for a parking variance with the Town of Hempstead’s board of zoning appeals because of certain regulations in place. The town requires the business to factor in car staging areas for parking, but the staging area does not generate more traffic, Bonesso explained.
“This will be supported by a traffic consultant who has already looked at this and will be testifying,” he said. “Our actual need is significantly lower because this doesn’t generate parking demand.”
An application for the variance has been filed and Bonesso said the development will likely have a hearing towards the end of September, should all go as planned.
“CarMax — it’s busy, it’s successful,” he said. “It’s doing good business. They will now have the ability to have more salespeople there, and they’ll have the ability to prepare more vehicles, store more vehicles, as needed for their customers.”
The developers also met with the East Meadow Fire Department and made some adjustments to the plans at their request, to improve emergency access, Bonesso added.
If all moves forward as planned, Mark Sagliocca of the Salisbury Associates said the permits for the work could come in at the earliest in September and at latest this December, the work may be completed in three to four-month timeline.
Joe Parisi, president of CEMCO, expressed the need for these shopping center redevelopments to look nice and bring curb appeal to East Meadow, referencing some of the new plantings that are set to go into the parking lots.
“Wherever you can add to it, we would very much appreciate that,” he said. “We really want to have shopping centers that stand out — that really pop.”
CEMCO regularly hosts meetings on a variety of subjects impacting the East Meadow and Salisbury communities. Its leaders said they’d be happy to connect community members with people informed on the project, should anyone have additional questions about the work planned at the CarMax site. For more, visit the group’s Facebook page, Council of East Meadow Community Organizations, or email CEMCO1976@gmail.com.
