Apartment Plan Seeks Final OK

An abandoned building currently at the corner of New York Avenue and Mill Lane in Halesite where a developer is planning a three-story, mixed-use building with nine apartments.
Long Islander News photo/Connor Beach

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

A developer is seeking final approval to construct a three-story building with nine apartments on New York Avenue in Halesite.

Plans first submitted to the Huntington planning department in 2016 show that property owner Vincent Abbatiello is planning to construct a 16,354-square-foot, mixed-use building on the corner of Mill Lane and New York Avenue.

The .5-acre, 110 New York Avenue property is the former site of Jorgensen’s Service Station, but now houses an abandoned building that is slated to be demolished if the plan is approved, according to site plans.

Plans show that the proposed mixed-use building would include 4,257 square-feet of retail space and around 1,100 square-feet of lobby and mechanical area on the first floor, as well as a small cantilever.

The second and third floors would contain nine apartments and have an area of 6,035 and 5,053 square-feet, respectively.

The property is currently zoned C-6, and town code permits the proposed building with apartments above commercial space.

Huntington-based attorney John Breslin, who is representing Abbatiello, said the town Zoning Board of Appeals granted a request for a “nominal” parking variance of “one or two spaces” last summer.

“Unlike a lot of the applications, this one has more than enough parking,” Breslin said, citing the 34 on-site parking spots provided in the plan.

The ZBA approval was granted with the condition that no restaurants can use the first floor retail space.

Breslin said that plans for the new building have been in the works for over two years, and Abbatiello is looking to move forward with construction “as soon as possible.”

“The building hasn’t been used in years,” Breslin said. “I think this proposal will be a tremendous upgrade to what is there now.”

The Huntington Planning Board was scheduled last night (Aug. 22) to make a conditional determination to approve the site plan.