2 Apartment Complexes For Baldwin Get Approval From Town IDA

BALDWIN, NY — A pair of apartment complexes got the green light from the Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency (IDA).

At its meeting on April 18, the IDA approved the benefit packages for Baldwin Jaz LLC, an affiliate of Garden City-based Breslin Realty, for a proposed 215-unit apartment complex. It would site on 1.8 acres on the southeast corner of Grand Avenue and Sunrise Highway across from the LIRR station.

In the second project, PGD Baldwin Commons, a partnership with the housing advocacy group Community Development Corp., plans to develop a 33-unit affordable housing complex.

The $16 million project is located at 785 Merrick Rd., at the site of a vacant diner and auto storage yard.

"These two projects will provide multiple benefits to the Town," said Fred Parola, CEO of the Town IDA. “In addition to serving as a catalyst that will bring much-needed change to Baldwin and increased economic activity in the community, it will remove long-time eyesores, alleviate a shortage of rental housing in the town, and provide increase revenues to the various taxing jurisdictions."

Baldwin Jaz intends to demolish a former car storage facility and replace it with a
five-story building that would contain 47 studio apartments, 132 one-bedrooms and 36 two-bedroom units – 10 percent of them set aside as workforce housing. It would also feature 5,000 square feet of ground-floor restaurant/retail space and parking for 251 cars.

The $106 million project, to be called the Grand at Baldwin, will result in the creation of 350 construction jobs and seven full-time permanent jobs after two years.

As for Baldwin Commons, is it expected to generate 75 construction jobs. The four-story building on a half-acre will have 11 apartments per floor, including 27 one-bedroom units.

Baldwin Commons will be affordable to households at 60 percent of the Area Median Income, the IDA said.