Guy Lombardo Marina's transfer to Freeport nearly complete

The Town of Hempstead’s Guy Lombardo Marina will soon belong to the Village of Freeport, capping a multiyear effort to transfer the property to the waterfront village.

Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy said the village can address issues at the marina more quickly than the town can.

“It's easier for the village to maintain it because the town would have to travel good distances from the other parks and marinas to come and maintain it,” Kennedy said. “So the Village of Freeport has easy access to take care of it.”

Town spokesman Brian Devine said in an email the transfer will benefit town residents, noting that Freeport has been operating the marina for more than a year.

“Transferring the marina officially to the village will allow the village to proceed with a number of upgrades it wishes to make to the property,” Devine said. “Going forward, it will remain open to any Town of Hempstead resident who wishes to utilize it.”

Under the terms of the transfer, which the Hempstead Town Board approved at its Feb. 25 meeting, the village must allow town residents to access the marina and rent slips at the same rate as village residents.

The transfer terms also require the village to reserve a limited number of slips for town government boats and effectively prohibit the sale of the property.

The marina has 252 boat slips, according to the Freeport Village website. Kennedy said the village expects to close on the property in the coming weeks.

Father-and-son team

The transfer required approval from the State Legislature because the property is designated as parkland. Last year, the legislature approved it following home rule messages adopted by both the village and the town requesting the transfer.

“We're open for improvements,” Kennedy said. “I can't make any capital improvements until the property has been fully transferred … to us."

In 2023, the village entered into a 99-year license with the town to operate the marina. The village then hired a vendor to operate it. In March 2023, the village board approved a sublicense with Guy Lombardo Marina Inc., a company formed by father-and-son team Richard and Eric Collins, who also own the adjacent Hudson Point Marina, which primarily services boats.

Under the terms of the sublicense, the operator pays the village 30% of its revenue from summer and winter dockage and storage fees, with a guaranteed minimum of $10,000 per month. The sublicense was approved for two years, with options to renew for up to 25 years.

Kennedy said the operator has been “phenomenal” and invested money to improve the facility.

New ideas for development

Richard Collins said that, assuming his sublicense is extended, he wants to improve the property with features that would bring people there for more than boating.

“We want to make it a very attractive place for entertainment and for families,” Collins said. “It's a very big piece of property and what we're trying to do is get to a point of utilization where we've got different sources of income year-round.”

Collins said some ideas for developing the property include a miniature golf course and a pickleball court, but anything that goes in would be subject to approval by the village.

Collins said he’s made many improvements to the marina to better serve the boaters who use its slips. “We've put in a lot of money and we're going to put in a lot more to keep this thing improving and bringing more people into the village that are going to spend money,” he said.

Kennedy said developing the facilities would need to take into consideration nearby residents.

“I also have a large residential community directly to the north, which I don't want to aggravate with traffic and noise, music, or anything like that,” Kennedy said. “So I'd have to really consider what's being offered. I'm not proposing what to go in yet.”

Ken Dookram, president of the Freeport Chamber of Commerce, said the village taking over the property was good for the community and future developments on the site would be welcome.

“If it was a restaurant, if it was … a child park … it's just going to make Freeport that much more of a nice place for somebody to want to live and obviously come down and visit,” Dookram said.