Glen Cove Village Square marks milestone

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Exterior construction has been completed at 100 Village Square, in downtown Glen Cove, after more than two years of work. At a topping-out celebration last Friday, Joe Graziose, RXR Realty’s executive vice president of residential development and construction, said he was pleased to mark the milestone, as RXR continues work on two projects in the city that will create both residential and commercial space, one in Village Square and the other at Garvies Point.

“These developments are some of the largest projects on Long Island, and it’s amazing to oversee something that will reshape my own home for the future and for my grandchildren,” said Graziose, a Glen Cove native.

The $53.9 million Village Square project, scheduled to open next March, is a 16,500-square-foot public plaza designed to help revitalize the downtown area. The development, between School and Brewster streets, will feature 15,600 square feet of retail space and 146 studio apartments, 10 percent of them designated as workforce housing. There will be 171 parking spots, with 69 additional spaces to be reserved at the neighboring Brewster Street garage. RXR will make a $207,000 one-time payment to the city for the garage parking.

Graziose added that there would also be a public walkway through the plaza, which would connect Garvies Point with the downtown area. The site, he said, was already the focus a great deal of attention from businesses interested in opening there, including retail stores, banks, restaurants, coffee shops and fitness studios. Although tenants have yet to be chosen, developers said that they would look for businesses that fit and complement the downtown.

“This beautiful building will mark the gateway to downtown Glen Cove,” said William DeCamp, senior vice president of Hunter Roberts Construction Group, which is working on the project.

As he watched the work at Village Square from his office in City Hall, Mayor Timothy Tenke reminisced about when some of the old buildings at the site stood nearly empty and blighted. A previous project to revitalize the area had stalled after seven years of work, he explained, and allowing RXR to take over construction, beginning in late 2017, proved to be a good move for the city. He said he hoped that new businesses and apartments downtown would bring renewed economic prosperity to Glen Cove.

“I’m extremely happy that the area is turning out exactly like it looked in their proposal and renderings,” Tenke said. “There was an old way of thinking that said you needed to get people out of your downtowns” — which he described as a “death knell” for those areas. “But this will bring people back,” he added. “It literally brings people into our downtown, and we invite them to make Glen Cove their home.”

Tenke also commended RXR’s work at Garvies Point, where it is transforming 60 acres of land along Glen Cove Creek into a mixed-use site with 1,100 residences, 75,000 square feet of retail and office space and 28 acres of waterfront promenades and parks. The first phase of the $1 billion project, now in its third year, includes the completion of more than 300 rental apartments in two buildings at Harbor Landing, expected by the end of the year. Graziose said that 30 leases were secured in the first two weeks after the leasing office opened for one of the buildings.

“For that to happen in the first 14 days tells you just how much people want to live in Glen Cove,” Graziose said. “Garvies Point and Village Square are going to recharge and bring vibrancy to the local economy.”