Developer's Plan Includes 36 Apartments Along Main Street

A rendering depicts 263 Main St., Huntington where a developer wants to create 36 apartments in proposed second- and third-floor additions. (Rendering/Joseph J. Scarpulla Architect

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

A developer’s plans to construct 36 apartments on the northwest corner of Main Street and New York Avenue in Huntington village will require approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals in order to move forward.

Town planners have twice issued denial – originally in a letter issued in July 2017, and again in February – for a developer’s request to convert the existing, small second and third floors at 263 Main St., and also construct additional second-and third-floor space, to make way for the apartments.

The building, owned by Emerson J. Dobbs, managing member of 263-265 Main Corner LLC, is currently occupied by women’s clothing store Ann Taylor Loft, which fills 20,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

Dobbs did not return a call for comment before deadline Wednesday.

There is also currently 4,000 square feet of storage space on the second floor, and 2,000 square feet of storage space on the third floor.

The proposal calls for 16,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor – still for Ann Taylor Loft – and around 17,000 square feet of apartments on both the second and third floors, according to plans submitted to the town.

Plans show the 36 total apartments would be divided evenly across the upper floors — 16 studio apartments, one one-bedroom apartment and one two-bedroom apartment on the second floor; and 15 studio apartments, two one-bedroom apartments and a two-bedroom apartment on the third floor.

Town planners have deferred to the zoning board, which is considering variances for the proposal. Town code requires 153 parking spaces for the plan.

The developer can request to utilize municipal parking instead of on-site parking to satisfy the parking requirement because the property is within 300 feet of the Elm Street lot, according to town documents.

The ZBA has not yet scheduled a hearing on the proposal.