By Angela Marshall
From the new North Park on Peninsula Boulevard to the recently completed erosion project at Mill River, the village has been hard at work enhancing its infrastructure. Private and religious institutions are also seeing change.
Village projects
North Park -- with its state-of-the-art fields, lights and scoreboards -- is finally complete, and will be dedicated on Friday, Sept. 5.
The erosion threat to Mill River was addressed this summer with the installation of stone structures called gabions along the east shoreline in the area near River Avenue and Shellbank Place. The gabions are mesh boxes filled with stones in which plant life can grow. The structures become more effective as time passes and more plants grow.
The Village Hall's parking lot was also torn up and replaced, and many streets are getting a new look as part of the village's ongoing street repaving program.
St. Agnes Parish Hall
Construction crews were expected to finish the steel frame of St. Agnes' new Parish Hall last week. Then workers plan to add masonry blocks, followed by bricks and roofing. It is hoped that all the outside work will be completed by winter so the crew can work inside during the cold months. The building is expected to be completed in late April or May.
After years of planning and fund-raising, the old St. Agnes High School was demolished last year to make room for the Parish Hall, which will feature a large meeting room that will seat about 600. It will also have two smaller meeting rooms, to be used by clubs and students from the St. Agnes Cathedral School.
Temple B'nai Sholom
There's new construction at another religious institution in Rockville Centre. Temple B'nai Sholom on Hempstead Avenue is being renovated inside and out. A whole new facade of stucco and glass block is being installed. The interior will have new carpets and wallpaper along with other changes. Temple President Joel Greenberg said the changes reflect a desire to make the synagogue more "beautiful and glorious" for worshipers and the many groups that use the catering hall.
Rabbi Barry Dov Schwartz, the temple's spiritual leader, said beautifying the house of worship shows adoration and respect for the almighty and will enhance the worship experience. Construction is expected to be completed in mid-September.
Ridgewood Savings Bank
A three-story office building is being built on Merrick Road between Oceanside and Long Beach roads on the former Sizzler restaurant site. A Ridgewood Savings Bank will occupy the ground floor. The second floor will house offices and the top floor will be the headquarters of the building's owner, Matthew DeGiaimo, an architect and developer who has worked in Rockville Centre since 1983.
Lincoln Avenue subdivision
There is likely to be much more construction in the next couple of years, as apartment projects proposed for Banks and Clinton avenues continue to work their way through the village's approval process. A seven-unit condominium is also being proposed for Lenox Road. The only large-scale housing project currently under way is the nine-home subdivision being built on the former site of 110 Lincoln Ave.
