By:Joseph Kellard
Former IP night club shelved for storage unit
Home to numerous nightclubs for over four decades, the property of the recently-closed South Beach Dance Club on Broadway could be the site of a new self-storage facility within a year.
The Salt Lake City-based Extra Space Storage proposes to develop the property, and if the proposals comes to fruition it will be the third facility of its kind in Island Park.
On July 11, the Town of Hempstead Zoning Board of Appeals held its first hearing on Extra Space Storage's proposal, which calls for the development of 11 storage warehouses, a caretaker's apartment, and parking. The board has reserved its decision until a later date, said a representative from the Town of Hempstead.
One of the proposed warehouses is a three-story 97,000 square-foot facility with heating and air conditioning that will be built on the section of property between Austin Boulevard and Broadway, which is now the former nightclub's parking lot. The other 10 smaller warehouses, averaging 24,000 square feet and standing 9 1/2 feet high, will be built on the property between Broadway and the waterfront. In all, the facility will house approximately 900 self-storage units, 80 percent of them for residential storage and 20 percent for commercial.
Other features of the facility include video monitoring, keypad access, parking inside the facility, and wrought-iron fencing surrounding the two sections of property. Business hours will be between 7 a.m and 7 p.m.
In April, members of the Barnum Island Civic Association and neighbors of the nightclub met with representatives of Extra Space Storage and their attorney, Bill Cohen. The company gave its presentation to the association, who then in turn presented the storage representatives with a list of 17 conditions that they would like included in the project.
We received some concessions from them, said Eileen Kale, president of the civic association. They agreed that the facility's lights will not shine on the neighboring residences, landscaping will be professionally maintained, traffic flow will be reasonable, no vehicles will be parked outside on the streets, and buisness hours will be agreeable. Also, all traffic leaving the facility must head north on Broadway to Georgia Avenue.
This company is doing everything right and meeting all the needs of the surrounding community, said Kathy Cardineau, vice president of the civic association. We asked that there be no outside storage on its premises and they complied. We asked that they lower the height of the 10 facilities between Broadway and the waterfront, and they complied. We asked that there be a wrought-iron fence instead of a chain-linked fence, and they complied.
While not among the neighbors who met with Extra Space Storage representatives, Laura Collins, a long-time resident of Broadway and Saratoga Boulevard, said, Anything is better than an empty lot and anything is better than that nightclub. For 30 years it's been hell living here with that club, with bodies sprawled out all over my lawn and lord knows what was happening on the hoods of cars.
Some Island Park residents, however, question the need to build another storage facility in town, particularly since Public Storage and Self Storage Warehouse each have warehouses on Austin between Saratoga and Trafalgar Boulevards, one block south of where the new facility would be built.
We're always happy business is coming into Island Park, because we can use it
