By GREGORY ZELLER //
Long Island downtowns had another big day Tuesday, with $19 million in state funding flowing to three critical downtown makeovers.
Huntington Station will receive $10 million as the Long Island regional winner of Albany’s annual Downtown Revitalization Initiative competition, a vital $100 million cog in the state’s socioeconomic wheel dedicated to transforming blighted downtowns into vibrant multiuse neighborhoods.
Also announced Tuesday were Round One winners of NY Forward, an all-new $100 million fund throwing slightly smaller stipends at “plan-then-act” downtown strategies in a larger number of “smaller and rural communities,” according to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office.
Among the first-ever NY Forward winners: Long Beach and Lindenhurst, both of which collect $4.5 million downtown-revitalization awards. Two or three awards of similar size are being made in each of the state’s 10 economic-development regions.
Kathy Hochul: Equitable investments.
By supporting downtown redevelopment in less-populated areas, Albany hopes to promote a more equitable downtown-recovery effort across the state. The City of Long Beach and the Village of Lindenhurst don’t suffer population shortages, though both check off the “smaller” box – and, more importantly, both have a full slate of ready-to-implement projects in hand.
“Our downtowns create a vital economic lifeline for so many of our smaller communities to thrive, flourish and reach their full potential,” Hochul said Tuesday. “We are executing an equitable plan with NY Forward to uplift our business districts utilizing the successful blueprint of our Downtown Revitalization Initiative.”
In Long Beach, the focus will be on traffic-calming and pedestrian-circulation improvements, all geared toward enhancing the “City by the Sea’s” status as a major regional destination. Promoting transit-oriented smart development, expanding arts offerings and creating new jobs among a flourishing local-business community are all on tap.
Lindenhurst, where the village downtown is characterized by open-space assets and other community-focused amenities, will look to create a Downtown Redevelopment District Floating Zone, designed to facilitate the renovation of underutilized properties into new commercial and residential spaces – particularly spaces within walking distance of the Lindenhurst Long Island Rail Road Station and the village’s central business district.
Village of Lindenhurst Mayor Michael Lavorata labeled the NY Forward award a “truly historical event for us in our centennial year” (the Suffolk County village was officially established in 1923) while Long Beach City Council President John Bendo applauded a “historic investment” that will enable “a much-needed renewal of our central business district.”
Ed Smyth: Feeling betterment.
Similar positive developments await in Huntington Station, where a host of favorable metrics – including a well-defined downtown, a proven capacity for catalyzing private investment and a community-vetted planning process informing a comprehensive slate of redevelopment proposals – has earned one-tenth of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative’s annual $100 million pot.
Huntington Station joins Westbury in 2016, Hicksville in 2017, Central Islip in 2018, Baldwin in 2019 and Amityville and Riverhead (both announced in January 2022 after a COVID hiatus) as Long Island champions of Empire State Development’s competitive-application Downtown Revitalization Initiative.
With the first tranche of its $10 million DRI grant – a $300,000 “planning fund” – the new Long Island champion will develop a Strategic Investment Plan, starting with a local planning committee of municipal representatives, community leaders, private-sector experts and state planners. The Strategic Investment Plan is slated to be completed before the end of 2023; last year’s winners announced their “transformational projects” in December.
Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight said in a statement that Huntington Station “will be revitalized through projects aimed at creating a more interconnected and pedestrian-friendly neighborhood center,” while Town of Huntington Supervisor Ed Smyth said the chunky award would “rejuvenate this community through infrastructure projects, developing and improving the business district and encouraging new industry.”
“We look forward to putting our plans in motion for the betterment of the entire community,” Smyth added. “Our thanks to Gov. Hochul and [Empire State Development] for this demonstration of your confidence in local government.
“We will not disappoint you or our taxpayers.”
