Freeport to convert public housing complex into 200 units for veterans, seniors
Damaged during Superstorm Sandy, Freeport's Moxey Rigby vacant housing, above, will be turned into a modern 200-unit apartment complex. Credit: Danielle Silverman
A Lawrence-based developer plans to turn Freeport Village’s former public housing development into a 200-unit apartment complex with units earmarked for veterans and seniors.
The decaying 1958 Moxey Rigby property, which was managed by the village’s housing authority and damaged in Superstorm Sandy, will be gutted and converted into modern housing, representatives of BOSFA Properties said Thursday at a zoning board hearing. The five-story complex will have 10 studio, 100 one-bedroom, 70 two-bedroom and 20 three-bedroom units.
BOSFA is operated by father and son Danny and Aron Goldstein.
The vacant structure has become a magnet for security and quality of life issues, Village Mayor Robert Kennedy said recently. The village plans to sell the 2½-acre property to BOSFA for $17.5 million. The apartment complex should net the village about $500,000 annually in property taxes, Kennedy said. The sale of the building is expected to be finalized by the end of year, the mayor added.
Jack Martins, the attorney for BOSFA, said at the zoning board hearing that developers are planning a multigenerational property. Of the 200 units, 40 will be for seniors, 40 for veterans and the rest for workforce housing.
Rents will range from $1,500 to $3,000 monthly, BOSFA spokesperson Dave Sutton said.
"We will create a positive community by bringing together the life experiences of seniors with the ambitions of a younger workforce while paying homage to the sacrifices and dedication of our veterans," Sutton said Tuesday.
The original Moxey Rigby had three buildings, which developers will connect and modernize with elevators, Martins said.
The veterans building will be named after Arthur Weaver, a Black veteran who served in a segregated U.S. Army unit during World War II and moved to Freeport in 1986. The building for seniors will be named “The Alder” and the workforce building “The Prodigy” after the late Freeport rapper Albert Johnson, who used the stage name Prodigy and was half of duo Mobb Deep.
Construction is expected to begin late this year and wrap up in fall 2025, Sutton said.
The property is about 3/4 of a mile from the Freeport Long Island Rail Road station.
The existing housing authority building will become a resident hub with workout equipment, amenity center, meeting rooms and lounge space, Sutton said.
Architect Emilio Susa said at the zoning hearing that the building's small windows will be replaced with floor-to-ceiling windows. The property will include more walkways and landscaping than the former Moxey Rigby. He called the updates “a general overhaul to aesthetically make it pleasing and bring it into the 21st century.”
A warehouse adjacent to the property will be included in the sale and will be demolished for a 177-spot parking lot. The vertical, stacked lot will be managed around the clock by an attendant, Susa said.
BOSFA is endowing a scholarship program to honor Moxey Rigby, who was Nassau County’s first Black judge. The annual $10,000 scholarship will benefit a village resident recommended by the village board and selected by the mayor. The scholarship will be funded for at least 15 years, Sutton said.
Brinley Hineman covers the Town of Hempstead and the City of Long Beach for Newsday. She previously was a reporter in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a West Virginia native.
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