Tenants Snap Up Gerard St. Apartments

By Danny Schrafel

dschrafel@longislandergroup.com

Shortly after going on the market Feb. 1, three of 10 luxury apartments at the Heatherwood Communities’ mixed-use Gerard Street complex have been claimed, company officials said. (Long Islander News photo/Danny Schrafel)

Twelve new luxury apartments went on the market this week as a mixed-use development on Gerard Street in Huntington village nears completion – and already, eager tenants are snapping them up and gearing up to move into Huntington village. 

The apartments, located in the Heatherwood Communities’ three-story, mixed-use building at 40 Gerard St., became available Feb. 1, officials said. Previously, the site hosted a one-story commercial structure. 

Already, Heatherwood officials said three of the 12 apartments have been rented; new tenants will be able to move in on Feb. 15.

Plans for retail uses on the ground level appear to be taking shape as well. A Heatherwood official said Friday that they are “very close to finalizing some deals” on the ground-level retail space, but would not elaborate.

Those tenants will be compatible with the apartments, he said, and do not appear to include any restaurants. Asked if restaurants could lease space downstairs, the spokesman said, “not at this time.”

The apartments range from 495 square-foot studios, going for $2,750 per month; to one-bedroom units priced at $2,950 per month and $3,150 per month; and two-bedroom homes at $3,575 and $3,750 per month.

The Heatherwood development on Gerard Street has been touted by smart-growth advocates as an ideal mixed-use project that promotes walkable downtowns, and is one of a handful in the works in Huntington village.

A similarly styled mixed-use development is in the works on Stewart Avenue at the former Losquadro ice house, where 26 apartments – 10 two-bedroom and three one-bedroom homes on the second and third floors – are planned above 8,000 square feet of retail on the ground level.

Elsewhere in Huntington village, the town has signed off on adding apartments atop Classic Galleries on Stewart Avenue; a new mixed-use building at 288 New York Ave.; the triangular Sidney Mack building on New York Avenue near Gibson Avenue; and a three-story building at 10 Wall St.

A mixed-use two-story building at 425 New York Ave., damaged by fire in March 2014, will be redeveloped as a three-story structure, with 10 apartments on the combined second and third floors and retail on the ground level. Apartments will also be added atop 417 New York Ave., home to Nino Antuzzi’s Red restaurant. A similar mixed-use plan at 328 Main St., which was devastated by fire in late May, calls for apartments; that case goes before the zoning board Thursday.

Eric Alexander, executive director of Northport-based smart-growth advocates Vision Long Island, said the foundation for this current boom in downtown mixed-use development was set in 2000, an outgrowth of Vision Huntington’s Gerard Street charrette.

Huntington’s approach reflects “a strategic decision to allow for these types of uses, but in a more modest density,” Alexander said.

“There’s a tremendous demand for mixed-use development,” he said. “There are people who want to pay a premium to live in a dynamic Main Street, which Huntington is.”