By Dana Williams
In a letter sent to Richard Bianculli, the town’s commissioner for planning and economic development, community leaders emphasized, among other things, that residents support the private sale of the Courtesy and the construction of an upscale rental apartment complex on the hotel site. According to the letter, community members also favor underground parking and a housing density as high as 65 units per acre on the Courtesy site.
Many of the ideas mentioned in the letter contrast directly with the designs in the URP, which has garnered very little support from residents. The URP is the town’s vision for the redevelopment of 10.5 acres of blighted land along Hempstead Avenue, including the Courtesy property. It recommends, among other things, that a developer build no more than 45 units per acre on the 2.7-acre site. The plan also calls for a mix of residential homes and businesses on both sides of Hempstead Avenue, and additional commuter parking near the West Hempstead Long Island Rail Road station.
By adopting the URP in January, the Hempstead town board blocked the private sale of the Courtesy property to real estate firm Trammell Crow Residential, which proposed the construction of a $66 million, 176-unit luxury apartment complex on the hotel site. The developer has been in contract to purchase the Courtesy from its owner, Bruce Zwelsky, since March 2006.
Residents attended dozens of town meetings last year to urge town officials to approve the sale of the property to Trammell Crow, with many contending that the apartment complex would be the catalyst West Hempstead needs to begin its revitalization.
Because the Courtesy is adjacent to the train station, supporters of Trammell Crow’s proposal believe that the complex would appeal to young professionals who commute to Manhattan.
“With the Trammell Crow proposal, West Hempstead will be a trailblazing community on Long Island,” resident Helen Schulman wrote in a letter to the Herald. “Instead of a blighted area with abandoned gas stations, storage facilities and thrift shops, West Hempstead will have a green centerpiece that will attract young professionals and downsizing retirees.”
The West Hempstead Civic Association was honored at the Vision Long Island’s Smart Growth Awards on June 12 for its efforts to replace the Courtesy with the mass transit-oriented development. The organization, whose mission is to “promote more livable, economically sustainable and environmentally responsible growth on Long Island through Smart Growth,” according to its Web site, presented the WHCA with the Community Leadership Award.
“The award was really a validation that West Hempstead residents ‘got it’ as a community,” said Rosalie Norton, president of the WHCA. “We saw a problem in our community and worked together to find a viable solution that would benefit our community for years to come.”
For more than a decade, West Hempstead residents have been fighting to close the Courtesy, which has been the site of a variety of criminal activities. Frustrated residents also complain that town officials promised to have the hotel closed and sold by last December.
Since the beginning of the year, according to 5th Precinct police records, officers have responded to 84 calls, made 20 arrests and filed 39 case reports detailing drug use, prostitution, assaults and domestic disputes at the Courtesy. Several legal battles are expected to arise as a result of the Hempstead town board’s decision to take properties in the URP by way of eminent domain. The URP is expected to delay the closure of the Courtesy for several years.
After receiving development proposals from Trammell Crow, the Sheldrake Organization, Breslin Realty and the Benjamin Group in May, town officials selected a town committee to review the designs and choose a developer.
Residents, meanwhile, have grown more frustrated with their town representatives because, they say, the crime-ridden Courtesy stays open and continues to have a negative presence in their community. And Zwelsky recently announced that he is searching for a new tenant for the nightclub inside the hotel.
“Our Town of Hempstead leaders are hard at work dragging their feet for political reasons,” resident Nikki Stamatas Thaw wrote in a letter to the Herald. “It’s only a matter of time before they trip on those dragging feet, but I wonder how long West Hempstead residents’ quality of life will suffer before that happens?”
Comments about this story? DWilliams@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 205.
