These 6 Long Island housing developments to get $32.4M in state funds

Six Long Island housing developments, from Glen Cove to Riverhead, will receive $32.4 million in state funds toward the construction of hundreds of new apartments and condos.

In all, the funds will support about 900 new rental and for-sale units in Nassau and Suffolk, the state’s economic development agency Empire State Development told Newsday. The buildings will include 482 affordable units, which means housing costs will take up no more than 30% of a tenant's gross income.

The Long Island Investment Fund awards aim to help private builders address the high cost of infrastructure, such as water, sewer, parking and utility upgrades, that is necessary to accommodate new housing, according to Empire State Development.

The funding is part of Gov. Kathy Hochul's broader push to support housing construction statewide, including through economic development incentives.

“Every New Yorker deserves access to a safe, affordable place to call home," Hochul said in a statement. "My administration is committed to building more housing in communities across Long Island." 

Concern Housing, a Medford-based nonprofit, will receive the largest award, $8 million, toward its plan for 175 affordable and supportive apartments on a portion of the campus of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, with an extra unit planned for the building's superintendent. 

Construction is expected to cost $162 million. Concern Housing will convert the campus's former Academy of St. Joseph, a Catholic School for kindergarten through 12th grade that closed in 2009, into rental units while preserving the buildings’ historical details.

The apartments will include 144 studios, 28 one-bedrooms and four two-bedroom units, with about half designated as supportive housing for tenants, including people with disabilities, veterans with behavioral health conditions and formerly incarcerated women. 

Concern Housing plans to start construction in December and open to residents in late 2028, said Ralph Fasano, the nonprofit's executive director. 

The funds are needed to renovate the more than 100-year-old academy buildings, upgrade building utilities, connect to county sewers and build a ground-mounted solar panels system, Fasano said.

"It's a lot costlier than we originally imagined," he said. "The funding actually makes the project possible."

The cost of housing has placed a major strain on Long Island renters, who often struggle to find rents they can afford, Newsday has reported. About half of Long Island renters face a housing cost burden, meaning they spend at least 30% of their income toward rent and utilities, Census data shows.  

Georgica Green Ventures received two grants for its plan for 56 affordable condos in Glen Cove and its project to build 80 affordable rentals and eight for-sale condos on the 10-acre grounds of the First Baptist Church in Riverhead. 

The latter grant will help fund an extension of the sewer line to connect to the Riverhead sewer district, which could help future businesses and developments, said David Gallo, Georgica Green's president. 

The funds "benefit not just the specific project but ultimately create opportunities that will benefit future neighbors and the community," he said. 

Long Island often struggles to attract its fair share of economic development dollars from the state given local taxpayers’ contributions, said Eric Alexander, executive director of downtown planning organization Vision Long Island.

The state funds will help more people live and spend money in the region’s downtowns, he said.

“These are all perfectly wise investments,” Alexander said. “We just want to see more of it.” 

The other five projects receiving funding are:

• Garvies Point Block F in Glen Cove, $6.25 million: Affordable housing developer Georgica Green Ventures plans 56 condos priced under $400,000 in the broader Garvies Point development. GGV had previously completed 55 income-restricted rentals at The Green at Garvies Point. Total project cost: $42 million.
• Glen Street apartments in Glen Cove, $6 million: Cedar Swamp Redevelopers LLC has proposed a 120-unit affordable, mixed-use development with commercial space near the Glen Street Long Island Rail Road station. All units would qualify as affordable. Total project cost: $71 million.
• Westbury mixed-use complex, $5 million: Alpine Residential will build 187 apartments, including 23 affordable apartments in a blighted, formerly industrial area adjacent to the village’s train station. Total project cost: $96.5 million.
• Northville Commons in Riverhead, $3.67 million: Georgica Green Ventures plans 80 affordable rentals on a 10-acre site owned by the First Baptist Church of Riverhead. Households earning 50% to 80% of area median income will be eligible and 20 units will be set aside for people with disabilities. Total project cost: $56 million.
• Belmont at Eastview in Central Islip, $3.5 million: Steel Equities will build 281 rental units, including 28 affordable units. The developer will redevelop two existing buildings and construct eight more in the next phase of its Belmont at Eastview complex on the former campus of the Central Islip Psychiatric Center. Total project cost: $102 million.

CORRECTION: Joseph's Village, a planned housing complex in Brentwood, will include 144 studios, 28 one bedroom and four two-bedroom units with one unit set aside for the building's superintendent. The numbers of each unit type were incorrect in an earlier version of this article.