Southern Land Co. Delivering Rare Garden City Apartments

Garden City is gaining apartment units for the first time in decades.

The Southern Land Company announced the opening of Florent, a 150-unit multifamily community in the Long Island village.

The Nashville-based developer’s project is the village’s first multifamily community in more than half a century, last adding to its housing stock in the category in 1971.

Southern Land acquired the four-and-a-half acre property for Florent in 2019, paying $22.5 million for the site. The company claims to have spent $100 million to develop the site.

The four-story, 183,000-square-foot property includes one-, two- and three-bedroom units. Rents for the market-rate units start at $4,500.

There are 15 units designated for those earning between 30 and 80 percent of the area median income. Additionally, 37 units meet ADA compliance standards.

The affordable units, which will start for as low as $720, stem from a requirement earned through a federal housing discrimination lawsuit filed against Garden City two decades ago, Newsday reported. The community group-led lawsuit alleged the village violated federal law and discriminated when it rezoned two county-owned parcels to stop the construction of more than 300 units for low- and middle- income housing.

Nine years after the lawsuit was filed, a court order required development in the village to include affordable housing units.

Amenities at the development include a resident lounge, fitness center, co-working areas, a clubroom, a pool, a whirlpool, outdoor grills, firepits, a community sundeck area, a dog park and a pet spa. About 25 percent of the units have already been leased.

Under an agreement with the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency, Southern Land will pay an average of $1.3 million in annual PILOT payments through 2043.