14 Building; 400-Unit Apartment Development Approved by Huntington Board

By Mark Demetropoulos

The Huntington Town Board approved a 400-unit, 14 Building apartment development - the largest apartment development approved by the Town Board - as part of its new Melville re-development scheme.

At the Town Board meeting last Tuesday, the Board voted 4 to 1 - with only Councilwoman Brooke Lupinacci (C-Lloyd Harbor) voting "No" - to approve the massive project.

The 400 apartment proposal was presented by Steel Equities and would be the first apartment development in the so-called "Melville Overlay District."

Steel Equities plans to build 400 apartment units on 16 acres in Melville, at the northeast corner of Maxess Road and Corporate Center Drive. The property has no frontage on Route 110; Broadhollow Road or the LIE Service Road, but is surrounded by commercial office properties.

The Steel Equities proposal consists of seven four-story buildings, plus four three-story buildings and three one-story retail buildings.

This includes 37,300 square feet of retail space, a public plaza, promenade and walking trail.

The proposal includes 290 residential rental apartments, which would include 40 "live and work" units; as well 110 condominium units for residential purchasers.

The Melville proposals have never had a SEQRA study, in conformity with state environmental law; and to side-step that requirement, the Huntington Town Board approved a "special use permit" to waive the normal SEQRA requirements.

According to the Huntington Town Board, the Steel Equities proposal is “unlikely to pose significant adverse environmental impacts.”

The Town Board approved the “Issuance of a special use permit for the application” which allows for Melville Crossing’s enormous commercial and housing development.

The local school district – the Half Hollow Hills School District – came out against the proposal, stating that it would add significant demands upon the school district in additional staff, buildings and security – while adding little to the tax base.

The School Board previously estimated that the Town’s Melville apartment development would cost the district’s taxpayers a $21 million annual tax increase on existing taxpayers.

Steel Equities attorneys indicated that the development would seek a tax abatement – which would shift additional costs onto existing taxpayers.

Under the Melville Overlay Scheme passed by the Huntington Town Board last year, the Board is limited to approving only 400 apartment units before a mandatory “pause” before approving other developments.  The Board would have to vote to lift the "pause" before considering any more apartment development proposals in Melville.

The construction of new apartment developments in Huntington was the subject of last year's elections in the Town of Huntington, with incumbent Supervisor Ed Smyth (R-Halesite) receiving over $1 Million in campaign donations and independent expenditures from the "developers lobby" including the apartment builders and land developers groups. 

Smyth narrowly defeated Democrat Cooper Macco in the November election, under charges that he "cheated" by running a fake "shill" candidate - 83-year-old Maria Delgado - on the minor Working Families line to bleed votes away from Macco.