An aerial photo of the mostly empty Sunrise Mall in...

An aerial photo of the mostly empty Sunrise Mall in Massapequa, taken on Jan. 21.  Credit: Newsday/John Paraskevas

Stretching across 77 acres, Sunrise Mall in Massapequa is dying a slow death. One by one, its retailers have departed, creating vacancy after vacancy. Macy's will be next. Then Dick's Sporting Goods will be the last tenant in the sprawling space and once it leaves, Sunrise Mall will be empty, a depressing testimonial to a Long Island that is long gone.

There is little hint of what's next.

It's been four years since Sunrise Mall Holdings, a joint venture led by real estate investment trust Urban Edge Properties, bought the mall. And it's been two years since the partnership announced it wouldn't renew leases and was ready to redevelop the site. Yet, no definitive plan has emerged despite talk of a warehouse, a health care facility, even a mixed-use retail and apartment development. Urban Edge previously dismissed the potential for residential units. That might be due partly to the need for a change in zoning to allow housing on the site, a change that historically has not been easy in the Town of Oyster Bay.

But Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino might welcome housing at a site like Sunrise Mall, at least if you listen to his past comments. Last April, in response to efforts from the State Legislature to encourage housing on religious properties by overriding local zoning authority, Saladino emphasized the need for local control. 

"We know how to strike the right balance between the voices of residents, the needs of the economy and the population density our infrastructure and services can handle," Saladino said in a statement at the time, adding that he does not oppose "reasonable development."

Indeed, some housing — albeit not enough — is going up in Hicksville right now, a plan decades in the making. Sunrise Mall represents another opportunity. It's in an ideal location, on a busy thoroughfare in southeast Nassau County, where infrastructure is already in place and where traffic should not be a significant concern. Consider the possibilities, perhaps a development that includes a health care facility or hospital — something the community needs and wants — along with some housing for employees. It might be a more difficult path, requiring community buy-in and town approvals and lots of bureaucratic layers to navigate. But it's the right path.

The risk is that Sunrise Mall ends up like the former Cerro Wire site in Syosset — home to yet another Amazon warehouse, despite years of hope it could have been something better. The property that could have been home to hotels, restaurants, housing and a park became a 200,000-square-foot distribution facility — and stands now as testimony to what might have been.

This is Saladino's moment. He has a chance to show the region — and the state — that he meant what he said when he declared that he could lead on housing development in the Town of Oyster Bay. He can start with Sunrise Mall.

MEMBERS OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD are experienced journalists who offer reasoned opinions, based on facts, to encourage informed debate about the issues facing our community.

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