Mattituck to turn vacant bank into affordable apartments
This vacant bank building on Love Lane and Pike Street shown on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Mattituck is set to be redeveloped for affordable housing. The one-bedroom apartments will range from 450 to 500 square feet and be subject to affordable rental rates set by the town, which are currently $1,914. Credit: Randee Daddona
A vacant bank in the heart of Mattituck is set to be redeveloped for affordable housing.
The developers, Hard Corner Partners LLC, cleared a key hurdle after the Southold Town Board voted to grant additional sanitary system capacity, which will increase the septic flow required for 12 apartments at the corner of Love Lane and Pike Street. Plans also call for two retail shops and a 16-seat cafe.
The board voted 6-0 to grant seven credits to the project at an Aug. 27 meeting, a move town officials said will help address housing needs while encouraging reuse of an existing building.
“Twelve is a huge number for us,” said councilwoman Jill Doherty, a liaison to the town’s housing advisory commission.
Supervisor Al Krupski said the project is in an ideal location and will add to the town’s “limited” affordable housing stock.
The 17,447-square-foot building has been vacant since 2017, when Capital One bank closed the branch and moved to a new location.
Property records show Hard Corner Partners purchased the property for $1.7 million later that year.
Charles Salice, one of the developers, has sought to redevelop the site for nearly eight years. Earlier versions of the plan called for a 56-seat restaurant, retail and commercial spaces with one affordable apartment.
In an interview, Salice said plans were redrafted after the pandemic.
“Post [COVID-19], the concept of what we were doing … wasn’t as conducive to the needs of the community,” he said, adding that redevelopment can revitalize the long-unoccupied corner, which is in walking distance of a LIRR train station and bus stops, shops and supermarkets. “It creates foot traffic, it helps the merchants,” Salice said.
The developers won’t be charged for the sanitary credits after the town board previously voted to exempt affordable housing projects from paying for them. Officials said the decision was made to incentivize both affordable housing and reuse of existing buildings, which town planning director Heather Lanza described as the “ultimate” form of recycling.
“It is more sustainable than building new because less construction materials are needed. It creates affordable housing faster because the building is already there,” she said.
Sanitary credits are stored in a town bank and come from preserved farmland that has been stripped of development rights.
Officials said credits could have previously cost a developer $12,000 apiece.
“Contractors don’t go into [workforce housing] to make money, but they don’t want to lose money either, so we have to incentivize them to do this kind of development,” Doherty said.
The one-bedroom apartments will range from 450 to 500 square feet and be subject to affordable rental rates set by the town, which are currently $1,914. Officials anticipate distributing the units via a lottery of the town’s affordable housing registry, which has more than 500 names of people seeking a place to live.
Salice, whose plans were ratified by the town planning board, must now seek county health department approvals. He said construction could begin in spring 2025.
A vacant bank in the heart of Mattituck is set to be redeveloped for affordable housing.
The developers, Hard Corner Partners LLC, cleared a key hurdle after the Southold Town Board voted to grant additional sanitary system capacity, which will increase the septic flow required for 12 apartments at the corner of Love Lane and Pike Street. Plans also call for two retail shops and a 16-seat cafe.
The board voted 6-0 to grant seven credits to the project at an Aug. 27 meeting, a move town officials said will help address housing needs while encouraging reuse of an existing building.
“Twelve is a huge number for us,” said councilwoman Jill Doherty, a liaison to the town’s housing advisory commission.
Supervisor Al Krupski said the project is in an ideal location and will add to the town’s “limited” affordable housing stock.
The 17,447-square-foot building has been vacant since 2017, when Capital One bank closed the branch and moved to a new location.
Property records show Hard Corner Partners purchased the property for $1.7 million later that year.
Charles Salice, one of the developers, has sought to redevelop the site for nearly eight years. Earlier versions of the plan called for a 56-seat restaurant, retail and commercial spaces with one affordable apartment.
In an interview, Salice said plans were redrafted after the pandemic.
“Post [COVID-19], the concept of what we were doing … wasn’t as conducive to the needs of the community,” he said, adding that redevelopment can revitalize the long-unoccupied corner, which is in walking distance of a LIRR train station and bus stops, shops and supermarkets. “It creates foot traffic, it helps the merchants,” Salice said.
The developers won’t be charged for the sanitary credits after the town board previously voted to exempt affordable housing projects from paying for them. Officials said the decision was made to incentivize both affordable housing and reuse of existing buildings, which town planning director Heather Lanza described as the “ultimate” form of recycling.
“It is more sustainable than building new because less construction materials are needed. It creates affordable housing faster because the building is already there,” she said.
Sanitary credits are stored in a town bank and come from preserved farmland that has been stripped of development rights.
Officials said credits could have previously cost a developer $12,000 apiece.
“Contractors don’t go into [workforce housing] to make money, but they don’t want to lose money either, so we have to incentivize them to do this kind of development,” Doherty said.
The one-bedroom apartments will range from 450 to 500 square feet and be subject to affordable rental rates set by the town, which are currently $1,914. Officials anticipate distributing the units via a lottery of the town’s affordable housing registry, which has more than 500 names of people seeking a place to live.
Salice, whose plans were ratified by the town planning board, must now seek county health department approvals. He said construction could begin in spring 2025.
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