First hearing set on Melville town center development plan
A rendering depicts what part of the Steel development would look like. Credit: Torti Gallas + Partners
A public hearing has been set for next month on the first proposal to build in the Melville Town Center Overlay District — a plan that would add more than a dozen buildings to a light-industrial area of Huntington Town.
Steel 75 Maxess LLC, a Bethpage-based company, last year applied to the town to build Melville Crossing. The proposal calls for buildings offering condos, rental units and retail shops on 16.62 acres at the northeast corner of Maxess Road and Corporate Center Drive.
The Melville Town Center Overlay District was established in 2024 for mixed-used development in certain light-industrial areas of Melville. The district, south of the Long Island Expressway, eventually could have up to 1,500 housing units.
The Huntington Town Board voted 5-0 Tuesday to hold the public hearing March 19 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall, 100 Main St.
Board member Dave Bennardo, who sponsored the resolution to set the hearing, said since it’s the first application for the district, it’s important that it “gets done right.”
He said the “cooperative nature” of discussions the developer has had with both the Half Hollow Hills school district and the town’s planning board made him feel comfortable voting to set the hearing.
“Now a lot of things have to happen for me to vote for the project, and who knows what that will look like,” he said.
A June 2024 letter posted to the school district's website said the district is concerned about projected student enrollment increases and any payments in lieu of taxes or tax reductions the town or the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency may offer developers.
The town voted in December 2024 to create the overlay district.
Town board member Brooke Lupinacci, who beginning in April 2024 cited lack of information in voting against measures surrounding the introduction of the overlay district, said she would vote for the public hearing.
“Now that a plan has been submitted, there’s an actual proposal before us that can be considered,” Lupinacci said before the vote. “I remain committed to a fair, impartial and careful evaluation of the project proposed.”
The plan calls for building four four-story condominium buildings with a total of 110 units. In seven other buildings of either three or four stories, the company would build a total of 290 rental units, including 40 live/work units.
Four of the buildings with rentals would have a ground floor with retail and/or commercial space. The rental units would be a mix of studio and one-bedroom apartments with a limited number of two-bedrooms, according to Steel officials.
The proposal also includes three stand-alone retail structures and two kiosks that would all face the roadways.
The proposal also includes a one-story clubhouse with a pool. The community would include landscaping, surface parking and private garages, Newsday previously reported.
Deborah Morris is a native Long Islander and covers the town of Huntington.
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