Store owner seeing red Carpet merchant says facade costs way too high.

      Bashir Shirzay, owner of Carpet Craft on the corner of Grand Avenue and Merrick Road, is eager to move forward with improvements to his storefront facade, but not at any cost. Shirzay feels that the Town of Hempstead has quoted him an unreasonably high price for the renovations to be done to his store, and that they are trying to discourage him and other store owners from going through with the work.
      The scheduled improvements to Shirzay's storefront are part of the Baldwin Facade Improvement Project, a joint venture between the Town of Hempstead and Baldwin business owners designed to improve the physical look of the downtown Baldwin area.
      Under the terms of the agreement, business owners or tenants will pay half the cost for these improvements and the town will cover the other half. Last fall, the town awarded the project contract to Spectrum Contracting Corporation for the amount of $334,916. Construction is set to begin in the spring. Slated for facade improvements this spring are those commercial properties on the east side of Grand Avenue between the Baldwin Public Library and Merrick Road.
      Shirzay said that the original price quoted to him by the town, for facade work on his storefront was $74,000, half of which he would have to come up with. Shirzay said the price was unreasonable given the work that was to be done.
      You pay me half of that amount of money and I will do a better job. That price was way too high, said Shirzay, who offered to hire a construction firm to do the work and bill the town once it was completed.
      Also, in the original facade renderings presented to him by the Town of Hempstead, Shirzay said there were specifications that he did not agree to. The town recently gave Shirzay a new rendering, one that copied the storefront of his other carpet store in Island Park. Shirzay said he is aware of how much such an improvement should cost and is waiting to hear from the town as to the new price. If it is similar to that amount, no problem, let's move on, said Shirzay. All we want is a fair market rate.