Hempstead Town weighing plans for condo-hotel at former TGI Fridays

A proposed "condotel" across the street from Eisenhower Park inched closer to approval following a hearing to rezone the property and amend the Hempstead Town zoning code.

The Jericho-based Beechwood Organization seeks to build a 92-unit development on the site of a former TGI Fridays in Uniondale on Merrick Avenue.

A condotel is a housing development in which individual units are owned separately but that operates as a hotel. When owners are not occupying their rooms, they are rented out as hotel rooms.

Beechwood’s attorney, Vincent Pizzulli Jr., told the town board during a meeting last week that the project would "provide an opportunity to fill the void for snowbirds and investors who want to own condominium units in a luxury hotel setting and have them professionally managed for rental occupancy and income through extended vacancies."

The town board did not vote on the application and left the hearing open, reserving judgment for a date to be decided in the future. According to the developer, the project would still need to get approvals from Nassau County and final site plan approval from the town board, a process that Pizzulli said should take about two years. 

The developer is asking the town to add the property to the town’s Planned Unit Development District, or PUD, that allows for a variety of projects with housing and mixed-use development. It is also asking the town to amend the district to allow "condotels."

The chain TGI Fridays filed for bankruptcy in 2024. The Westbury property was sold to Beechwood in 2025 by Matgart Merrick Ave. Associates LLC for $12.75 million, according to county property records. 

Pizzulli said the units will all have two bedrooms and are intended to attract "empty-nesters and snowbirds seeking primary or secondary residences and visitors seeking short, medium lodging for family visitation or business purposes."

"Two-bedroom units in a luxury-hotel-style building will not attract individuals or couples with school-age children, and the project will be 100% tax-positive to the Uniondale school district," Pizzulli said. He projected that the development would generate $1.35 million in taxes for the school district in its first year.

Town Supervisor John Ferretti responded positively to that. 

"So that would go to the school district, and it would literally cost the school district nothing," Ferretti said.