Newsday: Lynbrook feather factory to make way for apartments

By Sarina Trangle, Newsday

A 200-unit apartment building will replace a long defunct factory near the Lynbrook railroad station, one of several rental developments slated near transit hubs across Long Island.

Developers plan to spend $103.74 million to replace a former feather factory and other property near the intersection of Broadway, Saperstein Plaza and Langdon Place. In their place will be 201 apartments, 2,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and a 205-car garage, according to paperwork filed with the Hempstead Industrial Development Agency and a news release.

The IDA voted last month to authorize tax benefits for The Langdon, a 278,000-square-foot complex proposed by 43-47 Broadway Realty LLC, a collaboration between the Garden City-based real estate firm Breslin Realty Development Corp. and the New Jersey-based Fields Grade Development real estate firm.

The IDA has authorized aboUt $2.41 million in reduced sales and mortgage tax recording fees, as well as property tax benefits spread out over 30 years, during which the owner would pay an average of just under $949,000 a year compared to the $1.14 million anticipated once the project is complete, according to IDA paperwork.

Studios, one- and two-bedrooms

The 201 apartments will include 55 studios, 111 one-bedrooms and 35-two bedrooms, the news release said. Twenty units will be reserved for lower-income households, according to a cost-benefit analysis prepared for the IDA. Qualified tenants may earn up to 80% of the area’s median income — or $94,900 annually for a family of four, according to federal figures.

Breslin and Fields Grade didn’t respond to Newsday questions about rent rates and other matters.In their news release, the developers said they’d break ground within 60 days and welcome tenants by the summer of 2023. But Lynbrook Mayor Alan Beach said demolition and building permits have not yet been issued for the site.

Feather factory’s backstory

The developers will need to knock down the Mangrove Feather Factory, part of the $13.19 million the companies planned to spend buying property, according to the IDA application. The factory was initially constructed as a performance space and garage, before being transformed into a knitting mill and then a factory that created feathered items for carnivals and parades, according to an article by village historian Art Mattson. The factory has been vacant for 15 years, according to the developers’ news release.

Areas near the Long Island Rail Road station have historically been less sought-after for residential development and used by industrial businesses like auto repair shops, according to Mitchell Pally, CEO of the Long Island Builders Institute, a trade group for construction and development firms. Over the past decade, villages and towns have started authorizing apartments near stations, which help attract millennials and seniors, while providing a larger customer base for local businesses, Pally said.

He said Patchogue’s success adding housing by the LIRR has inspired similar developments in Farmingdale, Mineola and Wyandanch.

“There’s a lot of these types of developments that have found the train station to be a focal point for development,” Pally said. “Now that lots of people want to live by the train station, all those people who own that property are making a fortune.”