Apartments for low-income seniors, disabled to get $6M in upgrades

A housing complex in East Meadow for low-income seniors and disabled individuals will receive a $6 million makeover, its owner said.

The Benjamin Companies in Garden City plans an additional $3 million in renovations to Mitchel Houses, which consists of 125 garden apartments spread over 14 buildings on Front Street.

That’s on top of the $2.8 million in improvements that the property owner committed to two years ago in return for 35 years of tax breaks from the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency.

The tax incentives were a continuation of aid that began in 1980 and was set to expire in June 2021. Without the extension, Mitchel Houses would have been converted to market-rate apartments or condominiums, Benjamin Companies’ executives said at the time.

“We want to accelerate these renovations,” executive Daniel Smith said last week, adding the plans call for replacing kitchens, bathrooms, stairways and flooring.

He said upgrades have already been made to roofs, boilers, windows and building exteriors.

The property owner is seeking an additional sales-tax exemption of under $100,000 for the proposed renovations. This is on top of the $107,812 exemption awarded in December 2020, of which $66,000 has been used so far, Smith told the IDA board meeting.

IDA chairman Richard Kessel said it would consider the request at its Jan. 26 meeting.

“We need more affordable housing in Nassau County,” he said. “We want to keep these apartments affordable.”

The apartments are subsidized by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. The portion of rent paid by the tenants, many of whom are disabled or retired, is capped at 30% of their monthly income.