NYU Langone's plan for Melville medical center leaves some residents cautiously optimistic

A hospital and medical school built in the heart of Melville's commercial corridor could be a financial boon, but also a harbinger of less favorable developments and more competition for public services, residents of the hamlet and nearby communities told Newsday.

NYU Langone Health will spend billions to build Long Island’s first new hospital in nearly five decades on more than 45 acres at the Huntington Quadrangle, a block east of Route 110 in Melville.

Having purchased 1 and 2 Huntington Quadrangle last month, the healthcare system plans to initially demolish one of the buildings and replace it with a 500-bed teaching hospital and renovate the other for offices. The facility would include the system’s Long Island medical school, relocated from Mineola, plus housing for students and staff, an emergency department and research laboratories.

Lisa Bloomstein, of Dix Hills, said she supports the project — at least the second large building proposal pegged for a part of Melville with several commercial vacancies but easy access to Route 110 and the Long Island Expressway.

"I think the project represents more than just a new hospital for us," Bloomstein told Newsday on Tuesday. "It’s an investment in jobs, education, medical research and the long-term health of our community."

Bloomstein and other residents who have followed Melville's redevelopment efforts and spoke to Newsday, said they are more supportive of NYU Langone’s proposal than another that could rise a stone’s throw away — Steel Equities’ plan to build 400 housing units along Corporate Center Drive, which the Huntington Town Board approved on April 14.

The mixed-use plan, dubbed Melville Crossing, marks the first development approved for the Melville Town Center Overlay District, which will allow for the construction of up to 1,500 housing units in the traditionally commercial area.

Melville resident Dorothea Fitzsimmons, said she wants to learn more from both developers, and any others interested in revitalizing Melville, about their long-term plans for the area.

"There’s so many things happening at the same time," said Fitzsimmons, 65. "I’m still waiting to hear how all of this might impact our first responders, our aquifer, our traffic and our schools."

An attorney representing Steel Equities could not be immediately reached for comment late Tuesday.

The Melville Fire Department has not yet seen any plans for NYU Langone’s proposal, Chief Donald Barclay told Newsday on Monday. He said the department would not comment on the proposal until plans for the facility are submitted to the town.

South Huntington resident Cynthia Clark, who opposes the Melville Crossing development, said the hospital plan will have her support, provided the new building stays within the old one’s footprint and does not rise above its current four stories. The height for the proposed hospital remains undetermined, an NYU Langone official told Newsday.

"What we don’t want is something like — and it’s hideous, talk about brutalist architecture — the federal court building along the Southern State Parkway, which you can see for miles," Clark said. "It just ruins the Long Island landscape."

For Rosario Asta, whose Say Cheese Pizza Cafe opened last month in Melville, an influx of medical workers in the area "will be great for business," he said.

"As it is we’ve been super busy with all the businesses around here right now during lunchtime," said Asta, 50, of Dix Hills.

Stacey I. Sikes, acting president and CEO of the Long Island Association, said the business group supports the hospital proposal for the "economic ripple effect," to local businesses and across the Island, as well as potential influx of jobs to the area. NYU Langone officials estimated the Melville proposal will generate thousands of permanent jobs.

The LIA, which also supports Melville Crossing, believes the healthcare network’s plan "sends a message that Long Island is an attractive place to invest and grow and it will further establish our region as a center for innovation and advanced medicine," Sikes said.

She added Melville is an ideal area for the hospital and housing because "it straddles Nassau and Suffolk County.