Five years after Mathnasium of New Hyde Park opened, people still ask the owner, Peter Abrams, how long the tutoring business has been around, he said.
That’s why he’s planning a move from a space nestled between two stores at 1003 Jericho Turnpike to 810 Jericho Turnpike, a storefront two blocks away that will make Mathnasium much more visible, Abrams said.
“People will know that we’re here,” said Abrams, a Bayside, Queens, resident. “I want to be able to help everyone.”
Abrams will move into the new spot at the end of October, pending approvals from the Village of New Hyde Park, he said. The spaces are similar in size, but Abrams is planning to renovate the new one to create a “huge open space” in the former medical office, he said.
Abrams opened Mathnasium’s New Hyde Park branch in January 2012 and has since offered tutoring there for first- through 12th-graders. The international franchise has hundreds of locations in the United States, Canada and eight foreign countries, according to its website.
Mathnasium tutors up to 130 students in its peak season around the state’s Regents tests for high school students in the spring, Abrams said. The center also doubled the number of students in its summer program this year, he said.
Some clients were worried when Abrams said Mathnasium was moving, he said, but “when I said it was directly across the street it kind of put them at ease.”
“It’s just one side of Jericho to the other, that’s all,” he said. “And across from Umberto’s [Pizzeria] never hurts.”
Abrams was a comptroller for a small architecture firm before he started tutoring with Mathnasium, he said.
The center offers homework help for high-schoolers and more foundational math lessons for younger students, Abrams said. Its reputation has grown since it opened, he said, and people in New Hyde Park know it’s “No. 1 for math.”
“When you’re doing a job that you don’t love and then all of a sudden something comes along that you do love and you believe in the curriculum — and that’s really what happened,” Abrams said.
Abrams needs a parking variance from the village Board of Zoning Appeals and a special use permit from the Board of Trustees, he said. A public hearing on his plan for 810 Jericho Turnpike is set for the Board of Trustees meeting on Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m.
