If a real estate developer and the Corpus Christi Parish get their way, Mineola will get its fourth downtown commuter apartment complex next year.
The proposed $68 million development by Mill Creek Residential Trust would replace part of the old Corpus Christi Elementary School on Searing Avenue with two buildings holding a total of 197 high-end apartments.
The church’s congregation has shrunk over the years, and selling the school is its only viable path to repaying its $400,000 debt to the Rockville Centre diocese, Msgr. Robert Batule said.
“We’re not going anywhere, we’re not retreating, but this is going to be very helpful to us to be able to stay in the community in a vital way,” Batule said at a public hearing about the project on Wednesday.
Mill Creek approached Corpus Christi about the project in 2013, noting its ideal location near Mineola’s train station and Mill Creek’s other “transit-oriented” complex in the village, Modera Mineola at 140 Old Country Road, said Jamie Stover, the firm’s vice president for development.
One four-story, 68-foot building would sit on the north side of Searing Avenue between Willis Avenue and the Long Island Railroad tracks, the school’s current location.
The other would go on the south side of the street, near a pair of Little League baseball fields. The portion facing Searing Avenue will also stand four stories, but the portion facing the fields would be three stories, or 51-and-a-half feet.
Both buildings would have amenities such as a courtyard, club room and gym, similar to other similar projects in the village.
Ten percent of the apartments will be priced as “affordable,” or below market rates.
Several residents spoke in favor of the development Wednesday, saying it would put the church back on solid financial ground and benefit Mineola businesses by attracting new residents, as the other recent apartment complexes have.
John Farrell, an attorney representing Mill Creek, also noted building would grow the village’s property tax base, as the church is tax-exempt.
“It’s a good thing that we have that asset, and it’s a good thing to see that it’ll be something that’s going to benefit the parish itself and the village,” said Gus Lodeto, a Corpus Christi parishioner.
Other residents, though, they were worried the influx of people and cars causing parking and traffic congestion in the area.
A traffic study by Hauppage-based VHB Engineering found the development would not cause any significant issues, but some at the hearing said new cars would exacerbate traffic problems on Second Street and Willis Avenue.
“I’m all in favor of development, but you can’t get to it, and you have to address it,” resident Madeline Maffetele said.
The village Board of Trustees set another hearing for Jan. 13 so it could process the proposal and develop questions for the developers.
If approved, the buildings would join three others trying to attract young, affluent commuters in the village’s downtown, part of an effort to revitalize the area as part of Mineola’s “Master Plan” for growth and development.
Stover said Mill Creek sees high demand for these kinds of apartments in places with close proximity to entertainment and transit service.
So far the firm has leased 60 percent of the apartments in the seven-story Modera Mineola, which was completed this spring, and expects it to be full by the summer.
“We wouldn’t be putting in this application if we didn’t believe in a deep market for transit-oriented development in the region,” Stover said.
The village approved New Hyde Park-based Lalezarian Developers’ own 10-story, 315-unit complex at 250 Old Country Road in 2012, after three years of changes to the original proposal.
Lalezarian got approval in May for a second 266-apartment building at 199 Second Street, known as Village Green, despite vocal opposition from residents based on the building’s size.
Both Modera Mineola and Lalezarian’s Old Country Road building got tax breaks from the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency.
The IDA will decide Nov. 9 whether to give Lalezarian tax breaks for Village Green. Mill Creek also plans to pursue them for the Corpus Christi project because it and others like it would not be economically viable without them, Stover said.
