The final designs for the proposed new Great Neck Park District office will be finished soon, and the project could go out to bid in the next couple weeks, park district Superintendent Peter Renick said.
“Within the next couple weeks the specs will be finished and we should be able to go advertise out for a bid,” Renick said.
Vincent Cangelosi of CDA Architects and principal architect for the project first came before the board in December to present renderings of the new park district office at the district’s current location at 5 Beach Road.
Cangelosi said the new office will be made mostly from composite cement and wood fiber, and will have a residential feel.
Renick said he does not think there will be another public hearing on the new office.
“We’ve had numerous public hearings, and at the last one we had gotten through all the specs,” Renick said. “The engineers are finalizing the details; where the wires are going, where the plumbing is going, things like that.”
He has said the current parks district office building is out of date, infested with termites and has bad heating and ventilation. He has also said some of the parks district staff is misplaced and working out of converted garages because the current building does not have enough space.
The new building, which is designed to look like a standard ranch house, will be located roughly where the current parking lot is. The new parking lot will be behind the building.
Park district officials have said erecting the new building in the parking lot of the current structure allows the park district to continue operations while the new office is being built.
Residents were concerned during public hearings about preserving a number of cherry trees on the property.
Cangelosi has said he could keep at least five out of seven cherry trees. He has also said the other two trees could be moved to another part of the property.
The project is expected to take a year with at least a couple of weeks in which heavy equipment is used. Officials have said there will be no additional personnel in the building.
The park district covers all areas of Great Neck except Great Neck Estates, Harbor Hills, Lake Success, Saddle Rock and University Gardens.
