Hicksville LIRR parking garage to reopen after months of repair work

The Hicksville commuter parking garage reopens Monday after being closed for more than three months for repairs, Town of Oyster Bay officials said Sunday afternoon.

Alternative parking and shuttle service between the former Sears parking lot and the Hicksville Long Island Rail Road station will continue through Jan. 11 as part of a transition process, town spokesman Brian Nevin said Sunday.

The town closed the garage and its 1,441 spaces on Sept. 12 for $15.5 million in repairs to cracked concrete and leaking roofs that have been a problem at the heavily used facility since it opened in 2011. The town has provided alternative parking and shuttle services to commuters.

The garage will be open from 5 a.m. to midnight on weekdays and close on holidays and weekends, officials said. The exit gates will be left open on New Year's Day, town spokeswoman Marta Kane said in an email, allowing New Year’s Eve celebrants to retrieve their vehicles after normal closing hours.

Town officials said earlier this month the garage would resume operations in the first week of 2019, but by opening on Dec. 31 the town will meet an end-of-year deadline set by Supervisor Joseph Saladino at an August town board meeting.

In a news release Sunday, Saladino thanked commuters for their patience.

“The Town of Oyster Bay will close out 2018 on a high-note with the successful reopening of the Hicksville Commuter Parking Garage,” he said in the release.

The town board awarded a $13.9 million contract to Swedesboro, New Jersey-based Pullman SST Inc. for the repairs but earlier this month approved an additional $1.6 million for changes to the original work. Some of the additional work included changes to the design because of inconsistencies in existing concrete slabs compared to original design drawings, changes to the fire alarm system to bring it up to code, and changes to the electrical lighting system, according to backup material to the board resolution that authorized the additional funds.

Last year the town sued Freeport-based Peter Scalamandre & Sons Inc. and Mineola-based Sidney B. Bowne & Son LLP, alleging the companies failed to correct substandard work on the garage. The companies in court filings denied they had done anything improper. In the latest legal filings, Scalamandre and the town disputed the date on which the work was completed. That date could determine the lawsuit's future because of a six-year statute of limitations for breach of contract cases, according to legal filings.