Woodbury-based Cameron Engineering & Associates has been hired to oversee the design and engineering of tennis courts as part of the $14.2 million project to renovate the Roslyn Country Club, North Hempstead town officials said.
The firm was approved unanimously during the North Hempstead Town Council’s March 31 meeting for a $789,000 project, but officials said work cannot begin until after the town’s acquisition of more than 7.2 acres of the property for $2 million is completed, pending ongoing litigation.
The property is currently owned by the Mineola-based Corona Realty Holdings, whose owner, Manochehr Malekan, unsuccessfully sued residents over longstanding easement rights in the 1990s that gave them access to the country club’s pool for $100 in annual dues and then shuttered the club in 2007.
Several residents then counter-sued, though Roslyn Country Club Civic Association President Todd Zarin has said all but a few residents have dropped their lawsuits in favor of the town’s acquisition of the country club and proposed renovation.
Under the land acquisition deal, Corona Realty Holdings would retain approximately 3 acres and continue to operate the Royalton at Roslyn Country Club catering hall.
North Hempstead town spokeswoman Carole Trottere said designs and bids for the tennis courts – the first part of the renovation, slated to begin later this year – have been prepared and could take effect immediately following the resolution of the litigation.
“We wanted to get it geared up and ready so we can just say, okay, start tomorrow,” she said. “…We’re very confident it will happen.”
North Hempstead plans to create a new special park district for the Roslyn Country Club, with the renovations including repairs to the club’s pool area as well as the construction of a new locker room facility, playgrounds and a basketball court.
The redevelopment would be financed using about $2 million from its general fund and $12 million in borrowed funds, which town officials have said would be repaid over a 20-year period.
The town would also utilize bond anticipation notes in the first five years of the project due to current low interest rates.
