By Kate E. Salute
Almost four months later, the Town of Hempstead is making good on that promise: The town board unanimously adopted a commissioned blight study for the Courtesy and the surrounding area at its meeting on May 23.
The study, conducted by Saccardi and Schiff Inc., encompassed a wider blight area than originally described by Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray. ³It includes the hotel, gym, parking lot, also the lot across the street behind the National Liquidators, also a smallish parcel on Hempstead Gardens Drive, and the Mobil gas station and delicatessen on the corner of Hempstead Avenue and Westminster Road,² Murray said.
The next step, she said, is for the town board to adopt a condemnation map for the blighted area before it takes the condemnation proceedings to the state Supreme Court.
The attorney for the Courtesy Hotel, Tom Levin, attended the meeting and told the board that the Courtesy¹s owner had entered into a contract of sale. Levin would not reveal the name of the buyer, but said, ³It¹s a nationally known property developer who is open to a number of different options, including multi-family developments.²
Murray called the contract ³an interesting development,² but added, ³This doesn¹t necessarily impact the legal steps that we¹re taking to go down the road of condemnation. The town will continue to do the blight study, to do the urban renewal and to adopt the condemnation map, because that would be preserving the legal rights, so to speak, on behalf of the West Hempstead community.²
Levin said the potential buyer¹s name would be revealed when it makes an application for a zoning change for the property, ³to some form of residential zoning, though you would have to speak to the Courtesy¹s real estate attorney.² That attorney, Dennis Lemke, was not available for comment.
Murray said after the meeting that if there is indeed going to be a new owner of the Courtesy property, she hopes it will take the appropriate steps to get the community behind it. ³When a developer buys a piece of property, they should always make the overture to the community to let them know what the developer has in mind, see if [the residents] think it is appropriate ‹ gauge the temperature. The community input is absolutely critical in this and every application, if this contract of ownership goes through. [The developer] should lead a very hasty line to all the important organizations of West Hempstead ‹ that would be a smart developer, in my mind.²
After the meeting, a doubtful Levin said, ³I don¹t get the sense that the town is open to anything but closing the hotel and taking the property.²
Murray, however, said she thinks that having a developer come in might be a better, quicker solution for the community. ³Condemnation proceedings take at least a year,² she said. ³If we can come to a happy resolution between the owner and the developer and the developer carries a vision to the community that they like, that would be the quickest way to get rid of the Courtesy Hotel and have a beautiful gateway to the West Hempstead community.²
Rosalie Norton of the West Hempstead Civic Association and Scott Jablow of the Cathedral Gardens Civic Association both said they were pleased with the expanded blight area. ³My only point of concern ... was a comment by Mr. Thomas Levin ... who is under the misconception that the problem is just the hotel, when in fact the problem is the entire area shown in the blight study,² said Jablow.
³In all of the years that we¹ve been discussing the town¹s participation in this project,² he added, ³this is the first real sign of a light at the end of the tunnel. I think that the town has done a fantastic job outlining the area of concern and moving forward to solve the problems of our community.²
Murray said she hopes to have the condemnation map ready to be heard by the board as soon as possible. ³The condemnation map is being done with all deliberate speed,² she said. ³I told them I want this to be prepared in very, very short order ‹ a matter of months, at most, I hope.²
