Wang's Plainview property, considered for casino, selling to home builder
Originally published: October 27, 2010 12:09 PM
Updated: October 27, 2010 1:52 PM
By RANDI F. MARSHALL randi.marshall@newsday.com
New York Islanders owner Charles Wang is in contract to sell his 144 acres of Plainview property to home builder Michael Dubb, of The Beechwood Organization, Dubb confirmed Wednesday.
A week ago, Newsday reported that the Shinnecock Indian Nation was considering the Plainview land as a potential casino site. Dubb said he and Wang have been in talks for several months, adding that he was aware that the Shinnecocks were also on Wang's radar screen.
"To Charles' credit, he had options," Dubb said. "He possibly could have made a deal with the Shinnecocks but I think he wanted to do what he viewed as a more responsible use for the property."
Michael Picker, who oversees Wang's real estate holdings, was not immediately available for commenT.
Dubb said he hopes to build a "lifestyle community" similar to the Meadowbrook Pointe project he built in Westbury. While that project is only for people 50 and older, Dubb said he hopes the Plainview project would be for a mix of ages and housing types.
But while Dubb said he would prefer to build housing at the site, he would not rule out any other possibilities - including a casino.
"My first desire is to create a lifestyle community that will be an asset to the neighborhood - and an asset to Nassau County," Dubb said. "In the event we can't succeed at that, we would consider all other options."
But building at Plainview has been a challenge in the past. In 2003, Wang proposed an extensive mixed-use development there, to be called Old Plainview, but four years later he pulled the project amid community objections.
Dubb said he hopes to hold meetings with civic leaders and the community before even designing the project, in an effort to avoid the same fate.
"I'm really not making any plans or decisions until I have input from the community stakeholders," he added.
But Dubb said he did hope to keep the project simpler, without the many different uses, such as a hotel, shops and office space, that Wang had originally proposed.
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I live a mixed ages community in Plainview and it is a wonderful addition to the area. I love that our children and grandchildren were able to have an affordable housing choice and stay on Long Island. The ages range from 25 to 60 in the mixed ages portion of the community. All working professionals who pay their mortgages on time and stay on top of their maintenance costs. Contrary to all the naysayers our community is thriving and successful.
ReplyDeleteThere was some concern it would tax the local school district but to date our community has added only an additional 3 children to the school district in 5 years.
A project like this, on a smaller scale is something this community should consider.
the high school is overcrowded. where are we going to fit more kids?
ReplyDeleteTo the last poster:
ReplyDeleteThat is the very problem in our schools.
If there is any influx of children to the schools by way of a new development our taxes will go through the roof. Why? because the school's elctrical,heating, plumbing and water systems are so outdated and in need of upgrades that we will be forced to spend millions to make our schools adequate enough for any large increase of children. There are only two avenues that we should support for the Wang property.
1. keep the property as open space for the sports fields. Because that will not negatively impact our schools
2. A light commercial/industrial park that would bring in alot of tax revenue that we need to help our aging school buildings. This would be the perfect place for it considering the L.I.E. is right there
It is ridiculous to say "Oh well we cannot handle anymore kids in our district".
ReplyDeleteSo no one should have anymore children? Plainview-Old Bethpage should just be made up of middle-aged empty nesters and the elderly? Us young professionals looking to start families should look elsewhere? Is that what Im to understand?
You think the schools infrastructure as it exists today with the current student population should go without updates and repairs?
The High School is not overcrowded and neither are any of the other schools in the district. You want your child in a class with 10 other kids send them to private school and stop complaining.
You want to see overcrowded classes get into your car and drive down to Amityville and tell me how poor ole JFK is here in Plainview.
The last thing we need is ANOTHER industrial park. Have you not seen the ones that are up for lease all up and down Rt 110?
We need affordable housing options for the young college graduates seeking to live and work on Long Island. We need young families and young professionals to choose to stay here, not move away.
If the high school is overcrowded the district should make ALL kids register again-maybe do this every other year-as we have many kids going to school here who do not live in district. I know of 5 kids who live in other towns and come to our schools. I am not talking about kids who attend a special ed program, I am talking about kids who lived here and moved but continue attending Plainview. I also know for certain that an upper level administrator knows about one of them. Why is the district not doing more????
ReplyDeleteNo one ever said to stop having children or discourage people from having children.You want to see affordable housing? how about going to the Board of ed meeting and get up and tell the board that you are tired of paying your outrageous school bill that they are responsible for causing because of their irresponsible and reckless spending on the excessive school employee contracts that the BOE has been caving in to for years. Can young people afford to live and work on Long Island? NO. Why mostly because of the SCHOOL TAX bill. Even if a couple saves their money living in an apartment for a few years , do you really think they can afford the school tax bill? no way. If You want affordable housing for young college graduates, it has to start with the overpriced labor contracts that we are stuck with right now in our schools . Our taxes are among the highest in the country. Unless the husband and wife are both making six figure salaries, there is no way they will be able to afford the future of long island. As far as the wang property , the point was this . If you are going to have any large scale housing projects developed in the district, expect your school taxes to go up more than they have gone up this year
ReplyDeleteI don't feel I pay 'too much' in school taxes. I don't think the teachers in our school district are overpaid. Contrary to the posts on this blog there are many parents who are happy with the schools. They are many parents who feel they are getting their money's worth.
ReplyDeleteEveryone on here keeps talking about school taxes. Who looks at school taxes when they cannot even contemplate home ownership in this town? Houses are not inexpensive last time I checked. The cost of home ownership is astronomical on Long Island, especially in this area. You have to be making easily 6 figure salaries in order to even think about living in the Plainview-Old Bethpage area.
ReplyDeleteThe few extra hundred dollars I pay every year as the school taxes increase is the least of my worries about living here.
How can you not look at the school taxes which have risen on average 15% this year . That is a fact. The last time I checked , the taxes for Plainview residents was not "a few extra hundred dollars", it was a couple thousand dollars that they have risen in the last few years . You may want to take a closer look at your tax bill.
ReplyDeleteNo my bill has risen only hundreds. I don't own an expensive home. 2 bedroom townhouse. My family decided we would downgrade, not upgrade. We are also a one car family by choice. Not everyone in Plainview feels the need to keep up with the Joneses.
ReplyDeleteyou may be one of the lucky ones. If you drive around Plainview you will see most residents have not "kept up with the joneses" The For sales signs are all around. The 15% rise is an average and also a fcat. This means that some residents saw a rise of 17% or 18% and some saw a 10 or 11% increase. As far as expensive homes go, the values of our homes have lost probably 20 or 30% in value over the last few years so the the expensive homes are far and few in between. the point is that any major expansion of home building will just push our out of control taxes even further out to the point that the taxes will be much higher than the mortgage and even more homes will be for sale
ReplyDelete