Village of Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celender addressed members of the Great Neck Chamber of Commerce Thursday morning, describing her village’s efforts to spark economic growth and address persistent storefront vacancies.
Celender described the village’s commercial center – a stretch of shops and restaurants lining Middle Neck Road and Bond Street – as an asset the village has worked to promote.
“That’s one of the big pluses that we have in a downtown compared to a mall,” Celender said. “We have a lovely architecture. We have all those building components that you can’t create in a shopping center and they don’t want to create in a shopping center.”
Speaking at a breakfast event hosted by the chamber at the Inn of Great Neck, Celender faced an audience of local business owners – a group that has faced the brunt of Great Neck’s high commercial rents and commercial vacancy rates that spiked during the recent recession.
Celender pointed to policies enacted by her administration, including a rezoning of the commercial district to encourage mixed-use developments that she said could attract younger residents seeking apartments near the Great Neck Long Island Rail Road station and the creation of a brochure to market the village to prospective retail tenants.
She also credited previous administrations with sidewalk improvements and beautification projects that she said had created an inviting atmosphere in the downtown.
“This village for the past 30 years, and I’m following leaders that were terrific before me – Mayor Bob Rosegarten and Mayor Alan Gussack – really started those trends of enhancing our downtown,” Celender said.
But, according to statistics cited by Celender and business people who spoke at the meeting, the economic picture is not entirely rosy. The store vacancy rate has declined to 8.5 percent from a recession-era high of 12.3 percent, but is still elevated above normal levels.
“We do see store closings still now,” said Michael Zarin, the owner of the Cutter Mill Road-based Wellfleet Investments. “It’s not for lack of shoppers – we all shop there.”
Zarin said some businesses had been unable to cope with high rent increases, and Celender said landlords should negotiate with tenants to avoid vacancies.
“That’s the message for property owners,” Celender said. “They need to try to work with the tenants that are in there.”
Celender also addressed another possible obstacle to economic growth in Great Neck – the traffic bottleneck on Lakeville Road that often causes backups during peak hours. Celender said that a road expansion was not likely, as the street passes through residential communities that could object to increased noise and traffic.
“Not all the villages feel the same way about promoting economic and business growth,” Celender said.
Despite challenges, the village is committed to seeking a variety of commercial tenants, building apartment-style housing and fostering a friendly environment for businesses, Celender said.
“In a downtown we really have the wonderful capability to mix old and new, and it’s very special to us,” Celender said.
