New Apartments and Stores Coming to Halstead Avenue

The vacant piece of land on 249 Halstead Avenue won't be barren for long, after the Harrison Town Board has approved a project that will bring three store fronts and 10 apartments to the property, upsetting some local property owners but creating space for potential businesses.

The new three story building will have stores at the bottom level, with apartments on top of them. A parking facility for the tenants of the new building will also be built under the complex. The entrance for the building will come from Fremont Street, which is located on the back end of the property. 

The proposal has been under consideration for about a year and has bounced between the Planning and Zoning Boards before receiving final approval from the Town Board last week. 

"I think it's going to be a great property and people will enjoy it," said John M. Voetsch, an attorney who represents the company that pushed for the approval. "The property will look better than it ever did."

The store fronts could potentially draw more people into the Harrison business district, as well as bring more tenants that could patron downtown businesses. But residents have voiced concerns ranging from the overdevelopment of the quaint downtown area to overflow of people in the apartments lingering close to nearby properties.

Emil Toso, a longtime resident on Fremont Street has stood in opposition to the back-side entrance that will connect his street to the property's parking facility. He lives two houses away from the proposed entryway and said he represents a handful of property owners on his street who are against the new building.

"It's going to change the character of Fremont Street and it's going to encourage this type of building to go on all along Halstead Avenue," Toso said. "It's not a business street, it's a residential street."

Toso further argues that Fremont Street is a residentially zoned neighborhood, which means that only two-family homes can be built on that street. He fears that property values will decrease for people in his neighborhood because of the new entrance to a commercial property.

Since the property faces Halstead Avenue, which allows for commercial construction, the businesses and apartments are legal despite the back-side entrance for tenants, according to the town.

An entryway directly onto Halstead Avenue was considered at one point, but the Fremont Street entrance meshed better with traffic patterns in the area, according to Voetsch. The connection to the lot was moved to Fremont Street after a traffic study.

The proposal says that only residents who live in the building will have access to the Fremont Street entrance, which would limit the number of cars passing through on a daily basis to about ten, the number of parking spots in the lot. The contractor also promised to landscape the Fremont Street connection, keeping it aesthetically pleasing.

But that isn't enough for some residents who said they fear that this will open up doors for similar projects along Halstead Avenue. 

"You are opening up a can of worms here," said Toso. "Everyone would like to infiltrate the back street to make their business more profitable, but it's at our expense."

Those complaints weren't enough for the board to reject the proposal. A unanimous approval cleared the way for the project to get underway.

"It is what it is now," said Voetsch. "It will happen, definitely."