Full steam ahead in Lynbrook
MTA Atlantic Ave. stores could soon see revitalization
After 14 years, the boarded-up, dilapidated stores underneath the railroad trestle on Atlantic Avenue in Lynbrook could soon be revitalized.
On Oct. 26, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Real Estate Department sent a letter to local developers, Lynbrook Properties Management, approving their proposal to lease and renovate the storefronts at 45 and 48 Atlantic Avenue. The MTA board must approve the transaction at an upcoming meeting before it can take effect.
“Once the real estate division has a prospective tenant, it has to be approved,” explained Salvatore Arena, an MTA spokesman. “The terms are spelled out at a future MTA board meeting, and the board must vote on it.” Negotiations between the MTA Real Estate division and the prospective tenant had been ongoing for the last several months, Arena added.
The village board had been working to rehabilitate the aging downtown properties, which were once leased by Harry Levitt and Kanti Vadsola, proprietors of Mur-Lee’s Men and Boys Designer Clothing and Sportswear and Picker Pharmacy. Village officials, including former Mayor and current New York State Assemblyman Brian Curran, had met with the LIRR and MTA about rehabilitating and revitalizing the storefronts throughout the last few years. In Curran’s tenure, which ended last year, a deal was crafted to allow a developer to rehabilitate the MTA-owned stores at a cost, estimated by officials to be a couple of hundred thousand dollars, in exchange for free rent from the LIRR for the years the developer would recoup their initial investment.
In 2009, village officials agreed to lease the property from the MTA in order to sublet it to various tenants. However, the MTA later issued a request for proposals to find potential tenants to do renovations last summer, and the agreement was dissolved. The village remained involved in the leasing process, helping to distribute the RFP, and have now found a developer to come on board.
“After all this time, we were able to find the right developer who would help revitalize our village, become part of our Lynbrook family,” said Mayor Bill Hendrick, “and bring us into the 21st century.”
