Heatherwood Breaks Ground on 428-Unit West Hempstead Project

Gov. Kathy Hochul wasn’t at the groundbreaking of Heatherwood’s West Hempstead apartment project Wednesday, but she could have been: It’s exactly what she hoped to encourage with her Housing Compact.

Commack-based Heatherwood Luxury Rentals plans 428 units at its 481,000-square-foot project at 111 Hempstead Turnpike, Newsday reported. Local officials say it is the largest transit-oriented development in Nassau County’s history and will boost ridership at the hamlet’s Long Island Rail Road station.

When Heatherwood proposed the project two years ago, the estimated price tag was $170 million. In the two years it took to actually get shovels in the ground, the cost attached to the two-building complex soared to $212 million.

Heritage by Heatherwood’s units will range from studios to three-bedrooms and rent for $2,000 to $4,000 per month.

The project also includes 5,600 square feet of retail, 740 parking spaces and a two-acre courtyard. Planned amenities include an outdoor and indoor fitness center, a pool, a rooftop lounge, a barbecue area and fire pits.

Heatherwood is developing the complex on a nine-acre site formerly occupied by National Wholesale Liquidators; it has been vacant since the retailer filed for bankruptcy four years ago. Discount department store Klein’s, E.J. Korvette, Woolworth’s and Shoppers Village are among the previous occupants, Newsday reported.

National Wholesale Liquidators’ former 107,000-square-foot building will be razed to make way for the development, which is expected to be completed in three years. The developer inked a 20-year payment in lieu of taxes agreement, costing Heatherwood an average of $2.1 million annually.

Last year, a unit of Heatherwood reached a $3 million settlement with New York Attorney General Letitia James, who had accused the company of violating the conditions of the 421a tax break by shorting workers at two buildings.

— Holden Walter-Warner