By:JOSEPH KELLARD
Central Self Storage (CSS) is constructing a three-story facility with 670 units on the property that was the former night club's parking lot, between Broadway and Austin Boulevard, but the company doesn't own the club building or its property and has no plans to develop on it.
South Beach closed permanently in 1999, after the building housed various bars over several decades, to the displeasure of many neighboring residents, who complained about some of the activities of club-goers: illegal parking, fighting, littering and urinating. During the club's vacancy, residents became concerned about the general unkempt condition of the building, worrying that it attracted vagrants and children who roamed around inside.
When residents expressed these concerns at an Island Park town hall meeting in March 2003, Hempstead Town Councilman Anthony Santino sent his building personnel to further secure the building in an effort to keep out trespassers, and said that a new storage facility was interest in developing on the property.
Originally, the Salt Lake City-based Extra Space Storage (ESS) proposed to build on the grounds, including the property where the abandoned nightclub stands, after its variance was approved by the Town of Hempstead Zoning Board of Appeals in September of 2001. ESS later pulled its application, and CSS began showing interest in the property in early 2003.
While the original variance granted to ESS was applied to CSS's proposal, Tim Davis, a spokesman for CSS, said that his company never owned the property where the nightclub structure stands and that it is not part of its development plans.
"That was the plan of the original company, to use that land, but it's not a part of our plan," Davis told the Herald last week.
Ed Seiban, executive assistant to the Town of Hempstead Board, said, "The parking lot and the nightclub were separated somewhere along the line in one of their applications."
While ESS made efforts to present its plan to the surrounding community, residents were left in the dark about CSS's plans for the property, according to Barbara Rubin, president of the Island Park Chamber of Commerce. "The new company never contacted the community about its plans to build at the site," she said.
Seiban said that the town board has received no applications for the property where the building stands, but that it will definitely not be a nightclub again. "Obviously it can't be a club again because they won't have the necessary parking ... There have been some rumors about converting it to some other use, like senior housing or something like that. But we haven't received any applications as yet."
Davis said CSS expects to open for business in August or September. "We're excited about it because it's going to be a really nice facility," he said.
