The former home of a longtime Floral Park eatery may become a home for a few dozen families.
Woodbury-based Questus Capital Management plans to put 36 apartments in two buildings on the S. Tyson Avenue property where Koenig’s Restaurant operated until it closed in September.
The $7 million project would turn the “underutilized property” near Floral Park’s downtown and Long Island Rail Road station into the village’s first intentionally “transit-oriented” housing, which Long Island is lacking, Questus partner Paul Pallisco said.
“Everything’s within walking distance, and we just saw it as a great potential to put certain property back on the tax roll with a new building and provide more rental housing to Long Island,” Pallisco said.
Questus would add two stories of apartments to the existing Koenig’s building at 86 S. Tyson Ave., which already has apartments on the second floor, according to documents filed with the Village of Floral Park building department.
The second floor already contains apartments, and the first floor would remain a restaurant or retail space, Pallisco said.
A second building with 21 two-bedroom apartments would be erected in a parking lot at 77 S. Tyson Ave., the plans say. The parking lot at 85 S. Tyson Ave. would provide parking for both buildings.
The project could attract tenants looking to downsize from a house to a rental, or young commuters who want easy access to the LIRR, Pallisco said.
Planners presented the project to Floral Park’s Board of Zoning Appeals March 9.
It needs variances for setback, parking and square-footage requirements, building department documents say. Village code requires 99 parking spaces and a minimum apartment size of 1,000 square feet, but Questus is proposing 79 parking spaces and 21 units smaller than the minimum.
The project met some opposition at the meeting, Pallisco said, and the board tabled a decision on it.
While Floral Park has the Flowerview Gardens co-op complex and apartments above downtown businesses, Long Island as a whole “is way behind the curve in rental apartment availability,” Pallisco said.
Villages such as Mineola have taken up transit-oriented development as a way to maintain their populations and boost local economies. Questus also has a small transit-oriented project in Rockville Centre, Pallisco said.
As a “true commuter village,” Floral Park’s access to transportation is part of its value, Mayor Thomas Tweedy said.
While officials would need to consider parking and traffic issues, he said, the village will consider transit-oriented projects.
Local businesses would likely support transit-oriented development, Tweedy said, as a pool of new residents from new housing developments could bring new customers.
“I think that is where Western Nassau County and Long Island is now, and we need to be part of that,” Tweedy said.
There are few undeveloped lots where new apartments could be built, Tweedy said, but developers could possibly find other existing buildings to repurpose for residential use.
The village has previously discussed turning the historic Centennial Hall into residential or office space, among other possible uses.
“We’re not static,” Tweedy said. “We’re a stable community, but we are dynamic. The reason Floral Park is 108 years old is because we’ve been able to adapt, grow, evolve and recruit those businesses and entrepreneurs and those residents that want to be a part of Floral Park and Floral Park’s future.”
