Hempstead Redevelopment Links

http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-history-business_bizdown,0,1349376.story?coll=ny-lihistory-navigation

DOWNTOWNS are often taken for granted, but over time they have managed to survive. Historically, they have thrived, withered and revived. But in recent decades, the encroachment of malls and megastores has changed the dynamic and pulled commerce away.Pessimists say the end is near -- but that's not necessarily so."It's been up and down, up and down, up and down," says Lee Koppelman, executive director of the Long Island Regional Planning Board and director of the Center for Regional Policy Studies at the State University at Stony Brook. "However, they still serve a useful function. For those that make the effort, they not only can hold their own but in some cases can even increase their strength."For Ron Stein, a financial planner who is president of the not-for-profit Vision Huntington advisory group, downtowns have lost their historic reason for being -- proximity to goods and services -- because of the automobile. "It's a one-word reason," Stein says. "The automobile has made it possible for people to live elsewhere than in central communities served by mass transportation."
"We have basically sucked the lifeblood out of many of our downtowns and that's the bad news," Stein says. "The good news is that people are becoming increasingly aware that what represents our sense of place in our communities are the downtown areas. These are the ideal forms of community when we think of places where we want to be."Among the Long Island downtowns officials are trying to nurture, according to Koppelman and Stein, are Rockville Centre, Northport, Glen Cove, Great Neck, Patchogue, Bay Shore, Port Jefferson, Huntington and Hempstead. Others are in varying stages of making the attempt.Here's a look at the business districts of Hempstead and Huntington, two of Long Island's oldest centers of commerce.Downtown HempsteadHempstead means business. It also has gotten the business, figuratively speaking, being forced out of its early eminence as Long Island's shopping center to become one of the downtowns that planners worry about."It's a bad rap," says James York, historian of the oldest incorporated village in New York State, a place with three and a half centuries of history and its share of pain. Known as The Hub for its central location and its dominance of commerce, the village of Hempstead has evolved, trying, as many downtowns are, to redefine itself as a viable satellite to the megamalls and Big Box stores that have redirected the flow of business.For York, the business history of Hempstead village is, with some exceptions, typical of the ebb and flow of most of Long Island's hubs."It is certainly a shadow of its former self," says York, project coordinator for the village's Community Development Agency, "but it still has the potential to come back and be a reasonably heavy hitter."This area of the vast Hempstead Plain, bounded by two freshwater streams, was settled in 1643 and quickly became the place for farmers to gather and sell their goods to buyers from an ever-wider radius. A revolution, George Washington, and 200 years later, the village was home to 1,355 people. After the Civil War, Henry Agnew sold paper goods not far from R. G. Powell Undertaker and Powell's Hotel. Printer Lott Vandewater started the Hempstead Sentinel in 1899. In the early part of this century, Louis Cohen opened his dry goods store and A. L. Frank sold men's clothing down the street from Miss Zwerin's Secretarial Studio. One branch of the Long Island Rail Road terminated in the village, also the home of the county's central bus terminal. The major roads, later supplemented by trains and buses, made it the crossroads and brought workers and shoppers from all directions.By 1940, with a population of 22,000, the village was home to Arnold Constable, a department store in the Manhattan mold. Mayor George Estabrook was envisioning a City of Nassau with the village as its hub. The Chamber of Commerce newsletter talked of Hempstead's "unassailable situation among villages in the state of New York." "Grapes of Wrath" played at the Rivoli Theater.Like Long Island, the village changed dramatically as manufacturers ramped up for World War II and then more so as veterans and their families moved to the suburbs. Soon to greet them were Sears, F. W. Woolworth, W. T. Grant and Times Square Stores. Abraham & Straus opened a 5-story monster store in 1955 that would go on to become the top-grossing department store in the country for a time.That was barely a year before the opening of Roosevelt Field in Garden City, Green Acres in Valley Stream, Mid-Island Plaza and Americana in Manhasset. Fifty-thousand shoppers, the population of Hempstead today, attended Roosevelt Field's debut.The Hub was hurt."There were a number of factors," says York, the historian. "It was not just the advent of Roosevelt Field. It was also the demise of Mitchel Air Force Base, which pumped a fair amount of money into the Village of Hempstead as well. And the continuing growth of other communities in Nassau County that were developing their own downtowns."In time, the village of Hempstead was reeling. The major stores were all but gone. The bankrupt TSS chain closed the 250,000-square-foot Hempstead store in 1989. It remained a derelict until it was leveled in 1997. The parent of A&S, itself in bankruptcy, closed the 540,000-square-foot Hempstead store in 1993. Lots of grand redevelopment talk notwithstanding, it stands forlorn on 17 acres at the hub of The Hub.With Long Island's economy in better spirits and the village aggressively attempting to recover, the number of vacant stores has dropped significantly. A new $9 million bus terminal opened in 1993 and now has 26 routes and 13,000 riders passing through the village every day. The rundown Rivoli Theater gave way to 112 units of rental housing with retail stores on the first floor. The LIRR is preparing to embark on a new $15.6 million terminal for The Hub.
"The potential for retail here in the Village of Hempstead still exists," York says, "and that's something that's obviously not lost on some of the developers proposing retail development here."One of the most significant changes in the last 25 years has been the growth of a large multicultural community and related businesses in and around downtown. "The demographics have changed considerably," says David Mosley, president of the Hempstead Chamber of Commerce. "We have had a very very large influx of Latinos.""The diversity is strengthening the community because it is a great place to live and grow up. It is an international situation in terms of living."Glen Boehmer, third-generation printer and owner of Sentinel Printing on Chasner Street in Hempstead Village, says, "There seems to have been a death to conventional retail and a rebirth of multicultural retail."
Related links
Downtown Hempstead Photo
Ann Steinger has owned a uniform store called Top Hat Inc. on Franklin Street in Hempstead Village for 411/2 years. She says, "It is a very mixed village . . . and we are very happy here."Downtown HuntingtonHuntington's downtown is in its second incarnation, which distinguishes it from most of Long Island's central business districts. It also is enjoying a revival, even though major malls and category-killer stores have skewed the situation for many downtowns.From its settlement 345 years ago a half-mile east of its current center, downtown Huntington has been the heart of commerce in the northwest corner of what is now Suffolk County."It's retained its identity," says Mitzi Caputo, curator of the Huntington Historical Society, "probably because it was larger and more complex to begin with."That doesn't mean it hasn't been challenged, particularly after openings in 1962 of Walt Whitman Mall and Big H Shopping Center to the south. The Whitman Mall continues to draw shoppers away from the Huntington village -- a misnomer since it was never incorporated -- but Big H has hit hard times. Whitman is undergoing a major expansion and there is talk of redeveloping Big H, so there are no guarantees that downtown Huntington will continue to thrive.In the town's favor is that it is a comfortable setting that attracts families to move within walking distance. "We have so many historic buildings," Caputo says. "We don't have the monotony of that all-the-same facade or the artificially created Nantucket look or anything that's redundant and Walt Disneyish."Between 1790, when George Washington passed through, and 1820, the population of Huntington Town more than doubled, from 2,000 to 4,935. By the Civil War, the commercial center had shifted west on Main Street from Park Avenue to cluster around New York Avenue.The arrival of the Long Island Rail Road in 1867 sparked a small rival business district just to the south in Huntington Station that lasted until the early 1970s, when it was bulldozed in an urban renewal program, which left Huntington village as the only downtown for miles around. Urban renewal also threatened downtown Huntington, but only a small number of stores and houses were demolished to make way for a post office and parking lots. The difficulty of traveling, especially before the LIRR, created a brisk hotel trade and a lively variety of supporrting services, including taverns, blacksmiths and livery stables.A snapshot of the early 1900s would include the smithy of J. T. Cantrell & Brother, who began fitting car frames with wooden wagon bodies to create the forerunner of the station wagon. On Main were McBrien's meat market, Henry Borchers grocery, Goldstein Dry Goods, Wm. Staudenmeier & Sons barbers, Iverson's saloon and the First National Bank.Five-and-dimes came and went, as did Sears and A&P. The 3-story building at the corner of Main and New York Avenue is representative of downtown Huntington's evolution. In 1880 it was the dry goods emporium of O. S. Sammis, a prominent surname in Huntington history. It became Swezey's furniture store, Hartmanns' department store, Snappy's shoes and now is home to The Gap. What was W. T. Grant Co. is now Marsh's Men's & Boy's Shop.Downtown suffered in the Depression and periodically afterward, but as with many business districts, each down cycle has been followed by the reverse. The village is now a business improvement district, taxing itself to pay for refurbishments.
Hempstead Village Divided on $2 Billion Comeback Plan
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By BRUCE LAMBERT
Published: August 1, 2007
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., July 31 — For centuries this village was the center of activity on Long Island, until modern suburbia exploded around it and decay set in.
Now the beleaguered community is agonizing over a $2 billion comeback plan — one of the largest that Long Island has ever seen — that would rip up a swath of downtown and replace it with 2,500 condominiums, 600,000 square feet of stores and a performing arts hall.
The debate over the plan has been intense, drawing overflow crowds to hearings lasting long into the night and sharply dividing the Village Board. Just this week, a vote to select a developer was scheduled for Monday, rescheduled for Wednesday and delayed again without a decision on a new date. In an earlier phase, the fractious board voted 3-2 against the project, then reversed itself and voted 3-2 in favor.
Proponents like Mayor Wayne J. Hall Sr. call the proposed project an antidote to sprawl, a model center where people could live, work, shop and dine in the same neighborhood.
“It could be transformative — it could make a ‘there’ there,” said David M. Kooris, a suburban specialist for the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit policy group that he said was “definitely enthusiastic.”
As Steve Rao, who hopes his Main Street Wireless cellphone store will be in the new center, put it, “For us it will be a great thing.”
But not everyone here is so enthusiastic, especially those who fear the flip side of urban renewal, displacement and gentrification. “They want to knock all this stuff down, but what happens to the people who have been here for years?” said Sherry Smalls, a bus driver, who was standing in her front yard. “They want to build new homes, but who knows if we could afford them?”
Mayor Hall wants the board to designate Urban America, a Manhattan-based, minority-controlled company with projects in several states, as the developer. Some critics have called for new proposals from other bidders.
Across Long Island, many villages are trying to revive their sagging downtowns, but the breadth of Hempstead’s plan stands alone. “This is a megaproject,” said Eric Alexander, executive director of Vision Long Island, a nonprofit planning group. “We found nothing else to compare and contrast it to.”
Everyone here agrees that something needs to be done; the issue is just how much. Some residents are totally for or against the plan, while many others are pushing just for revisions.
“The area needs to be revitalized, and I would support it if they make certain changes,” said Joseph Gill, a co-chairman of the local chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
Mr. Gill demands that half of the condominiums be reserved for lower-income housing, instead of the 5 percent planned, although the mayor insists the 5,400 apartments already in the village are sufficient.
The Village of Hempstead, incorporated in 1853 and part of the much larger Town of Hempstead, is New York’s oldest and most populous village, with nearly 57,000 residents. It dates to a time when stagecoach lines converged here and the likes of George Washington visited. It later was home to some of the Vanderbilts and the inventor Peter Cooper.
Known as the Hub, Hempstead flourished into the 1960s. Abraham & Straus was a top-grossing department store, and the 2,436-seat Calderone Theater was a showplace for movies and concerts. “For Long Island, it was the focal point, the big city,” said Desmond Ryan, director of the Association for a Better Long Island, a developers’ group.
A “destination” was how Patrick Duggan, Nassau County’s deputy executive for development, recalled it. “A big outing for us was to come to A&S,” Mr. Duggan said. “I got my suits at Robert Hall, and on a really special occasion, we’d have dinner at Cooky’s Steak Pub.”
All those businesses are long gone. “But that could happen again,” he said.
Hempstead fell on hard times as suburbs like Levittown and shopping malls like Roosevelt Field sprang up, sucking the vitality out of downtown. “The whole mentality of shopping changed,” said Richard V. Guardino, executive dean of Hofstra University’s Center for Suburban Studies.
As the white residents fled to the newer suburbs, blacks and then Hispanics moved in. Poverty grew and taxes rose. There was also an increase in crime and a decline in school performance.
The renewal plan would bulldoze 26 acres along Main Street, an area peppered with empty lots and boarded-up buildings. Among the properties that remain are a few homes, a car repair shop, a nail parlor, a bodega, storefront churches and a store selling pornographic videos — what Mr. Duggan calls a mishmosh.
“You hear the schools are bad, you hear people are getting shot, and we do have those problems,” Mayor Hall said. “But we can work on those problems while giving a jump-start to the economy and bring life back to our downtown. That’s why I’m so gung-ho.”
The project would create 5,200 construction jobs and 1,200 permanent jobs and yield $35 million a year in badly needed taxes, the mayor says.
Some critics question whether services like the sewer and water systems could accommodate the project, issues that the mayor has said will be studied and addressed. Others oppose the heights proposed for some of the buildings, which could be as tall as 16 floors — an anomaly for a region where growth has been horizontal, not vertical. But Edward Scott, a vice president of Urban America, said that height and density could also be modified.
But Don Ryan, the sole Republican and only white member of the Village Board, said he was still not satisfied. “If I wanted to live in Queens, I’d move there,” he said. “I’d like Urban America more if they were suburban America.”
Troubled Hempstead Debates Its Renewal
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By PHILLIP LUTZ
Published: January 22, 1989
LEAD: WITH its central location, rich commercial history and seemingly unsurpassed access to major transportation, downtown Hempstead offers perhaps the greatest potential for redevelopment of any business district on Long Island.
WITH its central location, rich commercial history and seemingly unsurpassed access to major transportation, downtown Hempstead offers perhaps the greatest potential for redevelopment of any business district on Long Island.
Indeed, much redevelopment has already occurred, notably the opening of the new Nassau County District Courthouse and the rehabilitation of lower Main Street.
However, plans for a major change in scale, one that would transform the village's downtown area into a high-density commerical center comparable to those in White Plains and Stamford, Conn., have become the focus of a bitter dispute that has already delayed, and could ultimately derail, continued development.
The dispute, which has become overtly political as the March 21 municipal elections approach, centers on the disposition of perhaps the two most desirable blocks in the heart of downtown Hempstead: nearly 16 acres bounded by North Franklin Street on the west, Bedell Street on the north, Main Street on the east and Jackson Street on the south.
On that site, Mayor George Milhim, a Republican, has proposed the construction of a million square feet of office space in three buildings, one of which, at 20 stories, would be the tallest such structure on Long Island.
He also has proposed the construction of a 300-room hotel, a 4,000-car parking lot and about 200,000 square feet of retail space.
At least one potential developer sees this as the first stage of what ultimately would be a $250 million ''super block'': 10 buildings, totaling 2.4 million square feet, that would cover 10 square blocks north of Fulton Avenue.
Both Mayor Milhim and the developer favor condemnation as the way to gain access to the prized two blocks, which are situated only one block from a Long Island Rail Road station. However, residents who would be displaced, including the owners of about 40 businesses, have moved quickly, and with some success, to delay such proceedings.
In recent weeks, they have held meetings with an independent counsel, and are threatening to sue, possibly before the elections.
They have the support of the three Democratic members of the village's Board of Trustees, Lance Clarke, Robert Carruth and James Garner, who is running for Mayor. The three, who represent a voting majority on the board, have failed to give Mr. Milhim a resolution supporting the condemnation.
That failure, and the intervention of Assesmblywoman Erlene Hill, Democrat of Hempstead, have helped the residents win a temporary victory by persuading the state's Urban Development Corporation to withhold money for a vital study of the two-block site, even though the funds had been earmarked in the 1988-89 legislative budget.
''We have suspended work on the project until the local issues have been resolved,'' said Karen Phillips, the corporation's project manager for Hempstead.
Division on the issue of how the downtown area should be developed dates to 1980, when Alan Schuman first became Hempstead's director of community development and changed the village's direction.
''When Hempstead was in its heyday, it was primarily retail,'' he said. ''When we took over and were mandated to rejuvenate the downtown, we switched it over to office because the market for retail was very low at the time.
''We actually proposed a certain amount of development for the area, marketed the planning for a number of years and finaly drummed up some interest.''
One interested developer, the only one to have expressed that interest publicly, is the Hempstead-based Johansen Organization, which had become one of the village's largest landowners by purchasing 17 properties totaling 1.4 million square feet.
Harry Johansen and his brother Ron have been ''actively pursuing'' the downtown project for at least four years.
''On an urban renewal,'' Harry Johansen said, ''you need a few things to happen. First off, you need a location, which we have. And you really need a master plan, which we put together.
''The village subsequently came up with a master plan and, combining bits and pieces of both, there really is an ideal situation to be had here. The next logical step has to come from condemnation and declaring an urban-renewal zone in the area.''
That is what the village supported in the summer of 1987 in a request to the Urban Development Corporation for money to study redevelopment of the 16-acre downtown site, Ms. Phillips said.
In the fall of that year, she said, Mayor Milhim and Mr. Schuman met with the corporation to outline their interests.
To justify the village's request, Mr. Schuman issued a report in December 1987 explaining why the area should be considered blighted.
''The area,'' he wrote, ''has not seen the influx of investment that has rejuvenated other sections of downtown Hempstead, despite the fact that several redevelopment projects have been proposed there in the last several years.
''As a result, real-estate values in the area have remained depressed when compared with the estimated 400 percent increase experienced in lower Main Street.'' (In the early 1980's, the village acquired about 30 properties on the block south of Fulton Avenue, between Franklin and Main Streets, and facing on Front Street. A small shopping center and a large Waldbaum's supermarket were built).
Mr. Schuman's report also noted that there were no more than 25 families in the 16-acre area. The report said there were 42 buildings, 12 of which were at least partly vacant and 16 in need of rehabilitation, but ''probably infeasible for rehab because the cost exceeds the value of the buildings.''
Mr. Milhim and Mr. Schuman obtained for Hempstead a $200,000 grant for study of the 16 acres by the Urban Development Corporation. Before the money could be spent, however, occupants in the area began mounting a major campaign opposing the condemnation plan.
''We're trying to defeat this spurious effort to consider this a blighted area,'' said Donald F. Kane, a lawyer whose office on West Columbia Street is within the 16 acres.
''Instead of making a comprehensive plan for the entire village,'' Mr. Kane said, ''they simply zeroed in on this specific area.'' Leonard Myers is the owner of the 12,000-square-foot, fully occupied office building at 126 North Franklin Street, which is situated within the proposed development site.
The business people there, he said, ''don't want a condemnation process to come in as one big broom and just destroy and dislocate all the businesses, enterprises and services that are being rendered to the community.
''To target 16 acres is not the way to redo the community that's going to serve all the interests.''
Mr. Myers questioned why the blighted 22,000-square-foot building at 156 North Franklin Street was ''not allowed'' to be sold for development.
Said Howard Kalinsky, owner of Kalinskys Furniture at 127 Main Street, which has been operating within the 16-acre site for 37 years:
''It's pure, unadulterated rape. You get offered probably 50 percent of the actual value. Then you get tied up in litigation for the next 6 or 10 years. The interested parties wind up being the losers and the Johansens come in and 'steal' the property.''
Mr. Schuman named specifically four developers, in addition to the Johansen Organization, with whom the village has been negotiating. Because Harry Johansen has been public about his role, Mr. Schuman said he was at liberty to reveal that name.
But to maintain the other potential developers' confidentiality, he declined to disclose their names.
''It's a political atmosphere right now,'' Mr. Schuman said. ''People are accusing that it's a scam, a setup for Johansen. And Johansen may, in fact, get the project. But they're going to have to go through a formal proposal procedure just like everyone else.''
In an attempt to prevent development, merchants have formed a group, People United to Save Hempstead (PUSH). Some have solidified their political support of Mr. Garner, Mr. Carruth and Mr. Clarke.
Mr. Clarke, whose law office on West Columbia Street places him at the center of the proposed 16-acre site, said:
''It's not only what you do with your head, it's what you do with your heart. Some of the merchants are the tried and true. They stayed here when Hempstead was on the outs. They don't see how they can be uprooted and replace their investment.''
Mr. Clarke suggested that the proposed development study be broadened to include the entire village. He said that the current 23-acre Abraham & Straus site off Fulton Avenue, adjacent to the 16-acre site, might be more suitable for development, since it was largely vacant.
Mayor Milhim said: ''They want us to do a whole master plan for the village. I say that is just a waste of public funds.
''We wanted to get different organizations who would give us backup support. We went to the Chamber of Commerce, we spoke to Regional Planning Associates of New York, we went to our community development agency.
''I went to the Assemblywoman at the time, Barbara Patton, and Assemblyman Lewis Yevoli, and they gave us letters of support.
''Then I went to the village's Board of Trustees, and they failed to give us a resolution supporting the program.
''When Erlene Hill was elected,'' he said, the opponents of the redevelopment plan ''got to her, and she's the one who basically put the freeze on the monies'' for the feasibility study.
Taxpayers, residents and merchants approached Mrs. Hill last year, she said.
''They said they heard there was going to be a major change in the downtown,'' she said. ''I was advised that a state grant had been approved to follow through with that redevelopment.
''I was not privy to the original proposal. But after having reviewed it, and after having spoken with the office of Senator John Dunne, Republican of Garden City, and with former Assemblywoman Patton and Assemblyman Yevoli, they also told me that they thought the proposal would include the entire village for study.
''However, the proposal that was submitted only included a small section of the downtown area. So there was either a misconception, a misunderstanding or a breakdown in communications somewhere.''
Last Aug. 2, Assemblywoman Hill held her first meeting with the PUSH group, and on Sept. 12 she met with four members of PUSH and the Mayor. On Oct. 13, Mrs. Hill and the PUSH members met with Mr. Schuman, but not Mr. Milhim, in the office of Vincent Tese, the state's Director of Economic Development.
To avoid the appearance of collusion, Mr. Clarke did not attend any of these meetings, Mrs. Hill said.
On Dec. 14, Mrs. Hill sent a letter to Mr. Tese, asking that he ''delay disbursing monies until all concerned parties have an opportunity to discuss it.''
According to Alan Hamerman, director of public affairs for the Urban Development Corporation, that agency is now ''investigating the merits of the arguments.'' The resulting delays in the project have elicited predictably contrasting reactions.
To Mr. Schuman, delays increase the possibility that Hempstead will have to sweeten incentives to lure developers.
''I'm not even sure that the project will go ahead,'' he said. ''But if it happens in the throes of a recession, you put a request for proposals in the paper, and you get 2 or 3.
''If it happens in good times, you may get 10 proposals, and you may not have to give away the kitchen sink to get a project.
''That's my concern. Tying up this $200,000 could potentially really hurt the project.'' But to Mr. Clarke, the delays are necessary, if undesirable. Another issue raised by the Democratic opposition is the potential loss of tax revenue. Said Mr. Clarke:
''I am also concerned that, if you take out the businesses that are here right now paying taxes and rendering service to the community, what happens if the businesses you replace them with are not successful? What happens if we have to give them some sort of tax abatement that eliminates rather than brings in revenue?''
Mr. Johansen responded that he would know whether his project was viable before building.
''I'm not going to build this thing on spec,'' he said, referring to the first building in the proposed redevelopment area.
''I'm going to need a tenant,'' he said. ''And after many years, I've gotten a tenant who's going to take 80,000 square feet.''
The tenant, Mr. Johansen said, was a back office for a bank, but he declined to say which one. He also declined to say when he would announce the tenant.
''It's the kind of plan that may take 10 or 15 years to complete,'' Mr. Johansen said. In the meantime, the affected merchants have been meeting with their lawyer, whose name they declined to reveal and with whom they said they have met three times.
Mr. Schuman said that ''it's been a political decision to broaden the study, and I support that decision today.''
He also said that several businesses were no longer under consideration for redevelopment, thus reducing the size of the original site of 16 acres to 12 to 15 acres.
''What I hope will happen,'' Mr. Schuman said, ''is that, after the election, the new mayor will authorize me to go ahead with the planning and spending of the $200,000 to further detail the 12 to 15 acres, to continue negotiations with the developers and eventually make up a proposal package.''
It is unclear how the village would pay for the $16 million cost of acquisition, demolition and relocation. Although Federal and state money will cover the $8 million cost of a new transportation center, such money will be otherwise scarce.
''Right now, it looks like there's no Urban Development Action grants,'' Mr. Schuman said. ''We were counting on that for a $10 million grant from H.U.D.''
http://thecommunityalliance.blogspot.com/2006/04/renewal-plan-for-downtown-hempstead.html
Ambitious Revitalization Plan Takes Shape, But Is it "Smart Growth?"Are plans to remake Main Street in the incorporated Village of Hempstead in tune with creating a sustainable community, or is the Mayor's proposal simply "pie-in-the-skyscraper" without long-term vision?Newsday reports that Hempstead Village is poised to redevelop it's downtown area -- including Village Hall, the old bus depot, and various locations along a stretch of Main Street -- with a mix of condominiums, office space, and commercial and retail businesses. [Click HERE to read New Look For Hempstead.]While a search of the village's Community Development Agency's website failed to yield formal revitalization plans (the link to "Urban Renewal Plan" brings up a site that is "under construction"), and calls to the office of CDA Commissioner Claude Gooding have not, to date, been returned, the February edition of Hempstead Visions, the village's monthly newsletter, does reference -- in terms as broad as they are vague -- the "near completion" of Hempstead's 12-year old Master Plan. [We did find an old draft of a Hempstead Village Master Plan, from back in the days when Glen Spiritis was Commissioner of Hempstead's CDA. It didn't give us much to bite on!]As it appears the mountain must go to Mohammed to view actual plans, this blogger plans a field trip to Hempstead Village Hall later this week to take a gander at exactly what Mayor Wayne Hall and his colleagues have in mind for New York's most populous village.Certainly, a comprehensive downtown revitalization plan -- one that would give impetus to a return of downtown Hempstead to something akin to it's heyday as the economic and social hub of Long Island -- would be most welcome. Simply throwing $180 million dollars at a project that would, concededly, rebuild the infrastructure, without due consideration of the impact on the surrounding environs (and in particular, existing residences and small businesses), could, conceivably, do more harm than good. For that matter, to do little more than to give a tip of the hat to principles of sustainability and sense of place would be throwing good money after bad.It takes more -- much more -- than building a skyscraper smack-dab in the middle of town to re-energize and revitalize a community. Calling for the creation of a "cultural center" for Nassau County, without further forethought, does not a sustainable community make. In fact, what should be a centerpiece of the rebirth of a community too long in decline may well have all the earmarks of suburban nightmare in the making. To paraphrase those nice folks at Smart Growth America, we can almost hear that "giant sucking sound" vacuuming up Main Street, while much of the rest of downtown, and the residential and retail community around it, is left to gather dust.In Jamaica, Queens, an attempt was made, nearly a generation ago, to bring life back to a community decades in decline by constructing office towers and impressive facades. The project, which continues, even today, did little to encourage the rebirth of the community beyond the area of redevelopment. In fact, insofar as creating a sustainable community, the Jamaica redevelopment project, despite marginal gains and best efforts to paint a rosy picture of a still bleak and downcast downtown, was, by any real measure of livability, a dismal failure.There is a difference between "thinking big" (as in grand visions), and "bigger is better." Hempstead's planners -- and the residents they serve, who must themselves be intimately involved in both the planning and implementation of this bold renewal project -- should revisit the drawing board (what's another year tacked on to an already more than decade old Master Plan?) before expending significant monies and reaching toward the sky.If it doesn't "look like suburbia," maybe it doesn't belong in suburbia! "Build it -- whatever 'it' may be -- and they will come," is not only myopic in vision, it is, in terms of establishing the very model of the sustainable suburban village, a plan fraught with danger.- - -There once existed a Joint Center For Sustainable Communities, an extension of The United States Conference of Mayors. [Wasn't James Garner, the former Mayor of the Village of Hempstead, once the President of this illustrious group?] As it's website tells us, "The Joint Center for Sustainable Communities is no longer in existence." What, then, does this portend for those of us who remain committed to creating sustainable communities?
posted by The Community Alliance at 7:49 AM
http://www.ferrandinoandassociates.com/projects/recentprojects072007.pdf
F&A UPDATING VILLAGE OF HEMPSTEAD COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
F&A, with sub-consultants FxFowle Architects, PC and Urbitran Associates, Inc., was retained by the Community Development Agency to prepare an update to the Village’s Comprehensive Plan, including a focus on the Village’s downtown. This action-oriented, stakeholder-driven plan includes extensive community visioning, land use, zoning and urban design components, such as streetscape and adaptive reuse of vacant and under-utilized buildings, and issues associated with vehicular and pedestrian circulation and parking for the largest village (population 56,588) in Nassau County. Long-term components of the Downtown Plan include a capital improvements program and a market study that will assist the Village in conducting business recruitment efforts. Together with representatives of the Village of Hempstead, County of Nassau and State of New York, the F&A team is conducting a series of public visioning forums to ensure that the general concerns and needs of the Village’s taxpayers are met. The Plan is scheduled to be adopted later this year following the completion of a Generic Environmental Impact Statement.
In addition, the firm has been hired to prepare two urban renewal plans for the Village, including the preparation of blight determination studies and environmental documentation for the plans. F&A is also representing the Village in reviewing development applications coming before the Trustees and Planning Board and is serving as the Village’s SEQR consultant. Ferrandino & Associates Inc. 3
http://spacedoutli.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/hempstead-redo-redux/
Hempstead redo redux
Jump to Comments
In the wake of the UrbanAmerica debacle, the Village of Hempstead is asking for other developers to step up to the plate and take a swing at revitalizing 26 acres of its downtown.
Already in the midst of a community visioning process that kicked-off with a workshop on December 11, the village’s Community Development Agency is advertising–see page 8B, LIBN 12/28/07–for “expressions of interest” on a mixed-use project that would include “residential, retail, office, open space, parking and entertainment”.
UrbanAmerica had proposed a $2 billion plan for Hempstead that included over 2,000 condos, 600,000 square feet of retail and office space and a performing arts center. But after months of trying, UA supporter Mayor Wayne Hall couldn’t sway enough village trustees to vote his way and the plan was pulled from consideration in August.
Developers with project or site questions should contact Claude Gooding, commissioner of the Hempstead CDA at cgooding@hempsteadvillagecda.org
http://www.dec.ny.gov/enb2004/20040428/not1.html
Notice Of Acceptance Of Draft EIS And Public Hearing
Nassau County - The Village of Hempstead Community Development Agency, as lead agency has accepted a Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the proposed North Main Street Redevelopment. A public hearing on the Draft EIS will be held on May 5, 2004 at 6:00 p.m. at the Village of Hempstead, Village Hall. The public comment period ends 10 days after the close of the public hearing. The action involves adoption of the proposed Urban Renewal Plan for the Project Area, each of the individual projects outlined within the Plan (each of which are also subject to site plan review) and the associated rezoning, and the Comprehensive Plan Update. Within the Inc. Village of Hempstead, the project location encompasses part or all of approximately nine blocks along or proximate to North Main Street. The Area includes one building located two parcels north of the triangular intersection of North Franklin Street and Old Franklin Street at its northernmost boundary. The boundary then runs south along Old Franklin Street to just north of Union Place. The boundary incorporates Union Place and extends south to West Columbia Street, between North Franklin Street and the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), excluding: 1) the parcels along the eastern side of North Franklin Street from Union Place to a location approximately one-third of a block north of West Columbia Street, but including the right-of-way of Kellum Place; 2) the corner building at the southwest intersection of Union Place and North Main Street; and 3) the block from Union Place to Kendig Place between North Main Street and Hewlett Street. The southernmost block within the boundary runs from West Columbia Street to Jackson Street between North Franklin Street and North Main Street.
http://nassaunews.org/news/2008/01/affordable_housing_on_long_isl_1.html
Affordable Housing on Long Island: Development Plan or Moving Target?
By Lindsey CalabreseNassau News Staff WriterA lack of affordable housing directly affects Long Island’s economic growth. Explore the various solutions proposed to alleviate this problem and learn about the organizations formed to attack the issue.

Additional Links
Click here to read the PDF of the presentation of Matthew T. Crosson, President, Long Island Association Inc., given before the New York State Division of Budget Public Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2008-2009 on Nov. 30, 2007. Crosson asks for an increase in the budget for funds to help the affordable housing-development issue on Long Island.
Read the PDF of the Affordable Housing and Inclusionary Zoning Study for the C-2 District Village of Great Neck Plaza, New York proposal. Developed by Saccardi & Schiff, Inc. Planning and Development Consultants in July 2005. This is an example of how some towns are proposing to solve the affordable housing issue.
Long Island Housing Partnership
The Long Island Lighthouse Project
Nassau County Industrial Development Agency
http://nassaunews.org/news/2008/01/hempsteads_redevelopment_plans.html
Hempstead's Redevelopment Plans
By Kristina TrnkaNassau News Staff WriterThe Village of Hempstead, seeking to reinvigorate its core, considered UrbanAmerica for an ambitious $2 billion redevelopment plan, which would have ripped up much of downtown and replace it with 2,500 condominiums, 600,000 square feet of stores and a performing arts hall.
The discussion over the plan was intense, drawing crowds to hearings lasting long into the night and sharply dividing the Village Board. But not everyone was enthusiastic, especially those who feared the flipside of urban renewal -- displacement and gentrification.
Mayor Wayne Hall, the proponent of the plan, couldn't get the village leaders to accept the plan and he withdrew the proposal in late 2007.
Now the community is still evaluating proposals from many development groups and has still yet to decide on a new direction.
Kristina Trnka produced this video report, speaking with Hempstead residents, by using the video camera in her cellphone and the Photobucket.com online service.
http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=837
Former and merged names include:· Heemsteede· Heemsteede
The village was established by settlers from Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Hempstead was a Tory stronghold during the Revolution.
Well-known residents have included:· E.H. Harriman, railroad magnate· John Mackey, football player· Julius Erving, basketball player
Local festivals include:
· Dutch Festival - May 6, 2007
Dates often change. Check Hempstead web sites and events links in the sections below.
Send us festival info for Hempstead
Nearby parks & recreation: Jones Beach, Arboretum and Bird Sanctuary
More parks info
Hempstead attractions: Hempstead Lake State Park
Historic sites and museums: African American Museum, Hofstra Museum, Rock Hall Museum
Colleges and universities: Hofstra University
More colleges info
Support for libraries: Local government funding for the local library system, in fiscal years 2001-2002, was on par with the national average. (See library links below.)
Gays & lesbiansNational index: 100Local index: 130
More info
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/30villageli.html
Hempstead Village Revises Redevelopment Plan
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By ANNIE CORREAL
Published: September 30, 2007
HEMPSTEAD
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ABOUT 75 people marched into a meeting room below the public library on Tuesday, ready to voice their demands for the future of downtown, loud and clear. They left an hour later, deflated.
Mayor Wayne J. Hall Sr. has been pushing for a $2 billion project that would bring 2,500 condominiums, 600,000 square feet of retail space, a performing arts hall and 1,200 permanent jobs to the area around Hempstead’s train and bus stations.
The project drew heated debate over the summer. Mr. Hall recently designated Urban America, a Manhattan developer, for the project, and the Village Board was expected to vote on its bid on Tuesday. Instead, the mayor tabled the resolution indefinitely after last-minute changes in negotiations. He said he wanted the board to have time to review the changes.
Don Ryan, a board member who is opposed to the project, said he believed that Mr. Hall tabled the measure because “the mayor wasn’t confident he would get a majority of the vote.”
In the new agreement, the number of moderately priced housing units would increase from 5 to 10 percent, the village’s liability for studies needed by the developer would be capped at $3 million and businesses would be bought out at fair market value, Mr. Hall said in an interview. The changes, which Mr. Hall called concessions to residents’ demands, were not announced at the board meeting.
Members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now say they want the developer to reserve 50 percent of the new units for lower-income housing. They also requested that the developer submit a plan for relocating businesses and guarantee a living wage for those working at the site.
“Everyone wants the area renewed,” said Joseph A. Gill, a co-chairman of the local chapter of the association. “But the village can’t absorb the costs.”
Many business owners in the 26-acre area say they do not want the project, no matter how the proposal is trimmed and tweaked. “We do not support it,” Osvaldo Rivas said in Spanish after the meeting. He and his wife, who came to the United States from Chile in 1970, have owned the Rugo auto-repair shop on North Main Street for nine years.
The developer would pay the Rivases market value for their business, but they fear it would not be enough to support them and their two disabled children.
The businesses on the site are mostly run out of crumbling storefronts rented by immigrants. They include restaurants, beauty salons, a party-supply shop, storefront churches, a billiards club, delis and stores, like Inka Express, that transfer money and sell plane tickets.
“We don’t want to move,” said Sherry Ghong, 36, sitting behind the counter of Golden House, a Chinese takeout restaurant that her family runs. “We have a good business for 12 years. Everybody likes us here. If we move, the whole family loses the job.”
The makeover is not aimed at driving out poor immigrants, Mr. Hall said, but creating a tax base to support the densely populated village. Hempstead has a population of nearly 57,000, “but it’s 70,000, if you count the illegal aliens,” the mayor said.
Hempstead Village Revises Redevelopment Plan
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By ANNIE CORREAL
Published: September 30, 2007
HEMPSTEAD
Skip to next paragraph
In the Region
Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut and New Jersey
Go to Complete Coverage »
ABOUT 75 people marched into a meeting room below the public library on Tuesday, ready to voice their demands for the future of downtown, loud and clear. They left an hour later, deflated.
Mayor Wayne J. Hall Sr. has been pushing for a $2 billion project that would bring 2,500 condominiums, 600,000 square feet of retail space, a performing arts hall and 1,200 permanent jobs to the area around Hempstead’s train and bus stations.
The project drew heated debate over the summer. Mr. Hall recently designated Urban America, a Manhattan developer, for the project, and the Village Board was expected to vote on its bid on Tuesday. Instead, the mayor tabled the resolution indefinitely after last-minute changes in negotiations. He said he wanted the board to have time to review the changes.
Don Ryan, a board member who is opposed to the project, said he believed that Mr. Hall tabled the measure because “the mayor wasn’t confident he would get a majority of the vote.”
In the new agreement, the number of moderately priced housing units would increase from 5 to 10 percent, the village’s liability for studies needed by the developer would be capped at $3 million and businesses would be bought out at fair market value, Mr. Hall said in an interview. The changes, which Mr. Hall called concessions to residents’ demands, were not announced at the board meeting.
Members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now say they want the developer to reserve 50 percent of the new units for lower-income housing. They also requested that the developer submit a plan for relocating businesses and guarantee a living wage for those working at the site.
“Everyone wants the area renewed,” said Joseph A. Gill, a co-chairman of the local chapter of the association. “But the village can’t absorb the costs.”
Many business owners in the 26-acre area say they do not want the project, no matter how the proposal is trimmed and tweaked. “We do not support it,” Osvaldo Rivas said in Spanish after the meeting. He and his wife, who came to the United States from Chile in 1970, have owned the Rugo auto-repair shop on North Main Street for nine years.
The developer would pay the Rivases market value for their business, but they fear it would not be enough to support them and their two disabled children.
The businesses on the site are mostly run out of crumbling storefronts rented by immigrants. They include restaurants, beauty salons, a party-supply shop, storefront churches, a billiards club, delis and stores, like Inka Express, that transfer money and sell plane tickets.
“We don’t want to move,” said Sherry Ghong, 36, sitting behind the counter of Golden House, a Chinese takeout restaurant that her family runs. “We have a good business for 12 years. Everybody likes us here. If we move, the whole family loses the job.”
The makeover is not aimed at driving out poor immigrants, Mr. Hall said, but creating a tax base to support the densely populated village. Hempstead has a population of nearly 57,000, “but it’s 70,000, if you count the illegal aliens,” the mayor said.
http://libizblog.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/say-goodbye-to-urbanamerica-so-whos-next/
With Hempstead Village Mayor Wayne Hall pulling UrbanAmerica’s plan for the village off of the table, there’s one question … what’s next for the blighted area?
The development centered around market-rate condominiums and retail space, but opponents wanted more affordable housing out of the deal.
The Long Island chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now seems pleased the plan was nixed, and they issued the following statement today.
Read it and ask yourself this, how will Hempstead secure the amount of affordable housing it wants? Who will build it, and how will the village pay for it?
The statement:
Members of Long Island ACORN applauded Hempstead Village Mayor Wayne Hall and the Hempstead Village Board of Trustees today for their decision not to move forward with UrbanAmerica LP’ proposal to redevelop Main Street. Today ACORN leaders proposed principles that should guide future development on the site and encouraged Mayor Hall and Trustees to begin an inclusive process to forge a new development plan for the area.
“We have never said don’t build in Hempstead. There’s nothing wrong with housing and good retail, but we need to do it right. We need to make sure that any large scale redevelopment plan for Hempstead has housing for working families and jobs that pay a living wage,” said Joseph Gill, co-chair of East Hempstead ACORN and Hempstead Village resident.
Throughout the summer hundreds of ACORN members from Hempstead village turned out at hearings to call on Hempstead Village and the principals of UrbanAmerica LP to modify their plan to include 50% affordable housing, living wage building service and retail jobs and a relocation assistance plan for impacted small businesses, residents and workers.
UrbanAmerica LP had proposed a $2 billion development on 26 acres in the center of Hempstead Village to build 2,500 market rate condominiums and develop 600,000 square feet of retail shops and a performing arts center.
“Hempstead Village doesn’t need 2500 luxury condos. We need diverse neighborhoods open to low and moderate income people. And Hempstead doesn’t need dead end service jobs, we need retail tenants and building service jobs that provide a living wage and quality healthcare that working families can afford,” aid Diane Goins, ACORN member and Hempstead Village resident.
Today Hempstead ACORN members called on Mayor Wayne Hall and the Board of Trustees to go back to the drawing board and come back with a redevelopment plan that sets aside at least 50% of new housing for low, moderate and middle income Hempstead residents. ACORN also called on Hempstead to insist that any developer negotiate a legally binding Community Benefits Agreement with ACORN and residents covering jobs and wages at any proposed retail, commercial or performance space.
“We did not set out to oppose development in Hempstead Village. We are not against growth. We are for development that works for working families in Hempstead and look forward to working with the Mayor and Trustees to make that a reality,” said Goins.
http://www.labor.state.ny.us/workforceindustrydata/lon/lmbr/lmbr200704.asp
UPDATE: Details have emerged regarding the proposed $2 billion redevelopment plan for the Village of Hempstead (Nassau County). UrbanAmerica LP, which is managing the ambitious project, hopes to renew 26 blighted acres in the village with thousands of residences, shops and possibly a performing arts center. The boost to municipal coffers could reach $40 million in annual tax revenue. The plan is not without opponents, however. Education advocates contend that the proposed 2,500 market-rate condominiums will strain already over-burdened local schools. (Long Island Business News – April 12, 2007) Hempstead (Nassau) Village hopes redevelopment at the former Greyhound bus terminal will help revitalize its downtown. It is unclear who will develop the site or what it will eventually contain. The 100 Black Men of Long Island Development Group bought the building from Nassau County in 2001 and has since proposed a $28 million plan to install commercial tenants and social service agencies on the first two floors and to sell the rights to build 80 condominiums on two floors above. The village would also build a performing arts center, a multistory garage and an expanded library. Ten to fifteen percent of the condos would sell for below-market rates. (New York Times – July 9, 2006)
http://www.libn.com/article.htm?articleID=39349
100 Black Men and 100 Main
By David Winzelberg
Friday, July 13, 2007
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As the Village of Hempstead mulls the future of its downtown, at least one landlord is fighting off the wrecking ball.
The group called 100 Black Men owns and leases the building at 100 Main St. and has been struggling to keep it financially afloat. The former site of a Nassau County bus depot, 100 Main was purchased in 2001 by the not-for-profit group with $10 million from a HUD community block grant. Today, it’s only about 56 percent rented, and officials from 100 Black Men claim the village – and Hempstead Mayor Wayne Hall specifically – have discouraged prospective tenants from leasing.
The group has filed a $15 million lawsuit against the county, the village and Hall.
According to Hempstead Village Justice Lance Clark, a member of 100 Black Men, the group spent about $1.2 million renovating 24,000 square feet of their building for Nassau BOCES, which had been planning to open offices there. But the deal fell apart because of a state requirement for an integrated central fire alarm system.
The space was next considered by the Nassau University Medical Center, which already leases 12,000 square feet in the building. But during a November 2006 meeting between medical center officials and representatives of the county and the village, the mayor personally nixed the idea, according to Clark.
“He actually said ‘I told (NUMC chief) Art Gianelli I don’t want him to lease any space and I don’t want him in the building,’” Clark recalled.
Hall couldn’t be reached for comment, but when asked if anyone had told him not to lease at 100 Main, Gianelli replied with a written statement: “The Nassau Health Care Corp. enjoys a very good relationship with Mayor Hall. We are working with him now to identify a location in the village upon which to construct a new, expanded Community Health Center.
“In the meantime, we are very grateful to 100 Black Men for allowing us to continue to lease space in 100 Main Street for our current health center operations,” Gianelli wrote.
Three weeks after the meeting with NUMC, the village – as guarantor – sued 100 Black Men for defaulting on a loan issued through the village’s Community Development Agency.
According to Clark, who served as a Hempstead trustee for 16 years, the mayor and other village officials are trying to grease the wheels for the $2 billion UrbanAmerica plan across the street – and they don’t care who gets run over in the process.
When 100 Black Men met with HUD and Nassau officials last summer for a $10.8 million refinancing of its debt, Clark said both the county and HUD gave the OK – but the village did not.
In an expansive downtown redevelopment plan, UrbanAmerica has proposed over 2,000 condo units and 600,000 square feet of retail space over 26 acres.
The head of the Hempstead Community Development Agency, Claude Gooding, denied any effort to keep tenants away from 100 Main. “No one ever prevented anyone from moving in there,” Gooding said, adding the chronic problems faced by the building’s owners can be attributed to area economics.
“You can’t milk a stone,” he said. “The best rents wouldn’t be enough to pay the debt and keep it in good financial standing. The way the building was chopped up, it is not a lucrative proposition.”
Tenants at 100 Main include the U.S. Postal Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Nassau County. Annual taxes for the property amount to about $500,000, according to Leonard Myers, another member of 100 Black Men.
The group has paid the interest portion of its debt (about $250,000), but has not been able to pay the $650,000 portion of principal, according to Clark.
In 2004, the village was sued for $10 million by RB Hempstead, which had an agreement with the village to develop 26 acres north of Main Street. When the village tried to sell an acre-sized parking lot in the middle of the property it had committed to the RB Hempstead plan, the developer sued.
According to Gooding, that’s where UrbanAmerica came in. “They had approached us like many other developers after they heard of the lawsuit in the newspapers,” he said. “We had gotten quite a few visits from developers who had come to meet with us and said they would settle the lawsuit.”
Gooding added that UrbanAmerica Vice President Ed Scott, among others, had approached 100 Black Men to discuss possible solutions to 100 Black Men’s financial difficulties, but said the group is not being realistic.
“I can name four or five investment companies that sat down and offered them money above the debt that they had and they refused to commit,” Gooding said.
Scott acknowledged that UrbanAmerica had spoken to 100 Black Men representatives in 2004, but nothing came of it. “They weren’t the least bit interested in selling,” Scott said. “That was it. We wish them all the luck in the world.”
Clark said the group is willing to talk to interested developers. “But don’t try to steal it,” he added. “We just want fairness.”

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9402EEDE1231F934A35753C1A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
Hempstead Redevelopment Plan Scuttled
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By ANNIE CORREAL
Published: October 7, 2007
IN a surprise turnaround, the Hempstead Village mayor has withdrawn plans for a $2 billion redevelopment project that would have razed 26 acres downtown and replaced shabby storefronts and vacant lots with 2,500 condominiums and a new commercial district.
Residents were braced for a long debate on Tuesday, when members of the village board of trustees met to vote on the plan after several previous delays, including one a week earlier. Instead, the meeting ended abruptly, with no vote cast.
As the meeting began, Mayor Wayne J. Hall Sr., addressing a crowd of more than 100, read a statement saying he was pulling the proposal from consideration. A downturn in the real estate market made the plan, proposed by UrbanAmerica, a Manhattan developer, ''not viable,'' he said.
Mr. Hall said he would not resurrect the plan and had no immediate alternatives.
''Since the first time UrbanAmerica met with the village, there has been a change in the housing market, which could render a plan relying on condominiums problematic at this time,'' Mr. Hall said.
He said in an interview on Wednesday that the village had been ''relying on senior citizens to sell their homes, young people being able to obtain a mortgage, and that doesn't seem possible because of the mortgage crisis.''
In the interview, the mayor said he withdrew the plan primarily because he knew he did not have the support of the five-member board, which had been split on the project for months but was expected to reject it.
''First of all, I didn't have the votes,'' Mr. Hall said. ''I put that in one hand, and then I looked at the real estate market.''
In a statement issued the day after the meeting, UrbanAmerica said it was ''very proud of the support our project received.''
''Ultimately, however, we are disappointed to see it withdrawn due to local politics,'' the company said.
Perry M. Pettus, the senior member of the board, said Wednesday that he would have voted against the proposal.
''He knew he didn't have my support,'' Mr. Pettus said of the mayor. ''It was 2-2, and I was the main vote.''
Mr. Pettus had not previously revealed his stand on the proposal. He said he backed the commercial part of the plan but had misgivings about the residential component. ''It doesn't have to be 2,500 condos, because to be honest, I don't know how they're going to fill all that up,'' he said.
Don Ryan, the only Republican on the board and a staunch opponent of the plan from the beginning, said the mayor was reacting appropriately to the condominium market, which he called sour.
''This is not the right time to go into the market,'' Mr. Ryan said. ''I believe he did the right thing -- the decision to withdraw the plan was appropriate.''
Whatever their opinions about why he did it, the board members said they were surprised by Mr. Hall's sudden change of heart. For months he had pushed the plan as a way to create a tax base and revitalize Hempstead.
''I don't know one person who is not shocked,'' Mr. Pettus said.
While there is no alternate proposal on the table, Mr. Hall said he planned to take several ideas from investors and then ''see what we think is best for residents of the village.''
''Housing is definitely an integral part of this whole process,'' he said. ''The big-box store is not going to happen.''
In 2004, a proposal to build a big-box store on North Main Street, like a Costco or a Lowe's, was scrapped amid litigation.
Residents and members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, applauded the mayor's decision to withdraw the proposal. The organization, known as Acorn, had pushed for more housing in the plan at below-market rates -- 50 percent rather than the 10 percent in the most recent proposal.
''I did not think he would cancel the whole thing, but I am happy he listened to the community,'' said Diane Goins, a leader in the Hempstead branch of Acorn. ''I hope the community is part of the planning in the new project, so we can benefit by getting more affordable housing and retail jobs that pay a living wage.''
Mr. Hall said his move had cost him some supporters. ''My credibility suffered because of this project,'' he said.

http://longislandgenealogy.com/hempstead.html
History of Hempstead Village
Hempstead was settled in 1643 by a band of Puritans who sailed across the Long Island Sound from Stamford, Connecticut in search of a place where they could more freely express their particular brand of Protestantism. They were led by the Rev. Robert Fordham and John Carman, both disciples of the Rev. Richard Denton, the leader of their sect. They landed on Long Island at what is now called Roslyn village and trekked southward across a great prairie where they stopped between two fresh water streams and several small ponds. They bargained for the land with the leaders of the local native tribes and made an agreement that allowed them to establish a "town spot" at what is now the Village of Hempstead as well as establishing property rights to what are now known as the Towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead. The natives were representatives of three of the areas major tribes, the Marsapeague(Massapequa), Mericock(Merrick) and Rekowake(Rockaway). Tackapousha who was the sachem(chief) of the Marsapeague was the spokesman for the other tribes. Subsequent trips across the Sound brought more settlers who prepared a fort for their mutual protection.These were the beginnings of the oldest English settlement in what is now Nassau County. They established a Presbyterian church here. Today that Church is the oldest continually active Presbyterian congregation in the nation.The name Hempstead is thought to have derived from a town in Hertfortshire, England known as Hemel-Hempstead, perhaps the birthplace of the Rev. Richard Denton. A number of the original settlers came from that area. Hempstead's proximity to New York City (25 miles from Herald Square) an area controlled by the Dutch in 1643 raises the prospect of considerable Dutch influence over the early development of the Hempstead settlement. Several of the original fifty patentees had Dutch surnames and it is also possible, although not likely because of the Englishmen's intense dislike for the Dutch traders and their governor, that the town of Heemsteede in Zeeland, Holland had an influence on the naming of the community.In any case, Hempstead has developed over the past three hundred and fifty years into the largest Incorporated Village in the State of New York, with a population in excess of fifty thousand people. It is also the oldest Incorporated Village in New York State, having incorporated in 1853, as well as the seat of government for the Town of Hempstead, the largest township in the nation with over seven hundred thousand people.Hempstead has been the home to many famous people over the years, and has been visited by some of the most famous, including President George Washington, Father of our Country, who paused at the 1683 inn of Nehemiah Sammis during his presidential tour of Long Island in 1790. Charles A. Lindbergh, the world's most famous aviator, spent quite a bit of time in Hempstead both before and after his epoch solo flight from nearby Roosevelt Field to Le Bourget Field in Paris, France on May 20,1927. Some famous residents of yesterday are Peter Cooper, inventor and politician, who married a local girl and settled here during the mid eighteen hundreds. Cooper invented the steam locomotive and ran for President on the "Greenback" ticket. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spent her summers here during her teen years. Her family had a summer estate in Hempstead.Hempstead has historically been the center of commercial activity for the easternmost counties of Long Island. In Nassau, all major county roads emanate from this village. It is indeed the "Hub" of Nassau County. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries all stage coaches en route to eastern Long Island from Brooklyn passed through Hempstead. Today, twenty six busroutes and three interstate buses leave from the village every day. In addition, the Hempstead Branch of the Long Island Railroad has its' terminal here. At one time, there were three railroad companies with terminals within the village. Early Long Islanders made their living in agriculture or from the sea. Hempstead, with its' central location, became the marketplace for the outlying rural farming communities. It was a natural progression, as the surrounding areas developed from small farms into today's suburbia, that Hempstead Village would remain as the marketplace. Chain department stores such as Arnold Constable and Abraham & Straus called Hempstead home for many years. A&S, Hempstead, was the largest grossing suburban department store in the country during the late 1960's. Hempstead was Nassau's retail center during the 40's through the 60's. The advent of regional shopping malls such as the one at nearby Roosevelt Field and the demise of nearby Mitchel Air Force Base in 1961 put the retail trade in the village on a downward spiral that it was unable to recover from during the recessions of the 70's and 80's. Recent years have seen the redevelopment of the village as a government as well as business center. There are more government employees from all levels of government in the village than are in the county seat in Mineola. The population rises during the day to almost 200,000 from a normal census of 50,000. Retailers are once again showing interest in the village, and two large tracts of potential retail property are currently undergoing redevelopment. A considerable infusion of state and federal funding as well as private investment have enabled the replacement of blighted storefronts, complete commercial building rehabilitations and the development of affordable housing for the local population. The former 8.8 acre Times Squares Stores property on Peninsula Blvd. and Franklin St. is being redeveloped as Hempstead Village Commons, a 100,000 square foot retail center including Pep Boy's, Staples, Hollywood Video and Rite-Aid Drugs. Construction is underway. The replacement of the 1913 HempsteadLIRR terminal with a modern facility is scheduled to commence in early 1999, and a four story 112 unit building for senior housing, with retail on the ground level was completed at Main and West Columbia Streets in January 1998. Thirty two units of affordable townhouses known as Patterson Mews at Henry St. and Baldwin Rd. was completed and fully occupied last summer. The former Abraham & Straus department store on 17 acres is currently undergoing demolition, to be replaced by a large retail development.Hempstead is proud to have elected the first African-American village mayor in the state. It is proud of its' cultural diversity and the resourcefulness and accomplishments of its' residents, both past and present. We are happy to be called home by Hofstra University, one of Long Islands finest educational institutions and enjoy having the New York Jets football team conduct their practice sessions at Hofstra.The Village of Hempstead is truly undergoing a renaissance that it is hoped will restore it to its' former prominence and prepare it for its' passage into the twenty first century.
May 30, 1997rev. July 7,1998
http://www.villageofhempstead.org/history.htm
A Brief History of the Village of Hempstead
In the fall of 1643, two enterprising gentlemen, The Reverend Robert Fordham and John Carman, crossed Long Island Sound by rowboat to negotiate with the local Indians for a tract of land upon which to establish a new community. Representatives of the Massapequak Mericoke, Matinecock, and Rockaway tribes met with the gentlemen at a site slightly west of the current Denton Green. The Indians sold approximately 64,000 acres, the present day Towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead, for items worth less than $100 in today's market.
It has been suggested that the new settlement was called Hempstead as a reminder of the English town of Hemel-Hempstead where most of the original settlers were born. In 1664, the new settlement adopted the Duke's Laws, an austere set of laws that became the basis upon which the laws of many colonies were to be founded. For a time, Hempstead became known as "Old Blue" as a result of the "Blue Laws". As the years passed, the population of Hempstead increased, as did its importance and prestige. In 1703, St. George's Church received a silver communion service from England's Queen Anne. George Washington and other prominent leaders of the Revolution often stayed in Hempstead. In the 1800's Hempstead became increasingly important as a trading center for all of Long Island. In 1853 it became the first self-governing incorporated village. Many prominent families such as the Vanderbilts and the Belmonts built large homes here. Hempstead became a large center of Long Island society.
During the Spanish-American War, Camp Black was established in Hempstead as a training facility and a point of embarkation for troops.
After World War I, the population greatly increased as city dwellers were attracted to the benefits of suburban living. Hempstead became a desirable place to live as it was a well-established community with convenient shopping, already existing public services, and it is within commuting distance from Manhattan. Today the Incorporated Village of Hempstead is a full service community with a population in excess of 49,000 people encompassing an area of 3.7 square miles.

http://www.picturesofengland.com/England/Essex/Hempstead
The village of Hempstead lies a short distance from the delightful town of Saffron Walden. It is the place where the highwayman, Dick Turpin is said to have been born the son of parents who kept the Bell Inn. The legend of his daring lives on in the memory of locals here. A popular conception of him as the romantic champion of the oppressed is expressed in the pages of the novel Rookwood, by W.H. Ainsworth. However, a truer version of him and a more likely one, is that he plundered lonely farmsteads and was a cattle-thief. He did go to York but is thought to have carried on with the same activities. Turpin died as brutally as he had lived, he was hanged at York in 1739 for horse-stealing. His grave can be seen in St. Georges churchyard.In Hempstead, opposite the place of his birth, there is a circle of nine trees known as Turpin's Ring. Many legends abound in these parts about Turpin; he is supposed to have hidden in a great oak tree at a nearby farm and used several lonely inns as hide-outs.William Harvey, physician and discoverer of the circulation of the blood(1628) was born and buried here. He was chief physician at the court of Charles I.Hempstead is surrounded by several typical Essex villages, each a pleasure to amble along and explore. In spring and summer the fields of near-by Saffron Walden are awash with vivid yellow crocus and daffodils. A museum there tells much of the regions history and events. A short distance away is the ancient village of Littlebury which was mentioned in the Doomsday Book, the village church, The Holy Trinity has many treasures and is well worth a visit.Please see below for other recommended towns and attractions to visit near Hempstead.
http://www.saccschiff.com/pdf/Housing/Hempstead%20Vill%20Master%20Plan%20etc..pdf
VILLAGE MASTER PLAN,
DOWNTOWN AND NEIGHBORHOOD
PLANS AND PROJECT
IMPLEMENTATION SERVICES
Village of Hempstead, New York
Saccardi & Schiff, Inc. was the lead consultant
on a team of planners, architects, engineers
and economists for the preparation of a
master plan for this Long Island village with a
population of over 60,000 persons. The study
focused on redevelopment of affordable housing
projects, the provision of necessary public
services, the stabilization of residential neighborhoods
and the revitalizaiton of the CBD.
The economic feasibility of development proposals
was considered in light of market conditions.
The ability of local utility and traffi c
systems to handle projected development was
also evaluated. Saccardi & Schiff, Inc. services
also included preparation and processing
of a Generic Environmental Impact Statement
for the entire plan through the draft, fi nal and
fi ndings stages.
The fi rm also provides on-call services to the
Village relative to the implementation of various
redevelopment projects, including preparation
of urban renewal plans, environmental
assessments, and processing local approvals.
Contact: Glen Spiritis, Former Commissioner
Hempstead Community
Development Agency
(516) 431-1000
RUNDLE COURT
RYAN COURT
STREET
TERRACE
NORTH FRANKLIN STREET
BEDELL STREET
AVENUE
SEALEY AVE.
AVENUE
MARGARET COURT
JACKSON
Reconfigured
Park
Senior Apartments
Townhouses
Apartments