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Long Island's finest downtowns offer great variety

BY LAURA KOSS-FEDER | Special to Newsday

October 3, 2008

New York Avenue is part of a vibrant downtown in Huntington, one of six town centers that lure with arts, eateries, shops and style.
(Newsday Photo / Bill Davis)

Long Island downtowns run the gamut. Some consist of busy stretches of small strip malls. Others offer marinas and waterfront dining. There also are those that have office buildings and apartments interspersed between mom-and-pop stores.

And, there are those downtowns that have it all -- a variety of shops, restaurants, banks, movie theaters, performing arts centers, supermarkets and the Long Island Rail Road, all within walking distance. Also, because these are busy and active downtowns with less wide open spaces, they usually tend to feature smaller single-family homes that are more affordable.

Here are six Long Island downtowns that real estate experts say are worth buying into. They give you the option to leave the car at home and just walk, and they also feature an assortment of housing stock:

Huntington

WHY IT'S WORTH BUYING IN

If you want a downtown that boasts a performing arts theater, a park with free concerts, an independent movie theater, a more commercial movie theater, about 50 restaurants and 200 stores, Huntington is the area for you, says 17-year resident Cori Kaplan, associate broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Huntington. The area is also about one mile to beaches and the LIRR. "This downtown offers a little bit of everything and is always busy and active," Kaplan says.

WHAT THE NUMBERS SHOW Sales in Huntington are off by 2.44 percent, whereas sales in Suffolk County are off by 5 percent, according to Multiple Listing Service of Long Island data.

WHAT'S ON THE MARKET About 65 percent of available residences are single-family houses, 10 percent are co-ops, 10 percent are condos, and the rest are rentals, she says.

RECENT HOME SALES

An updated three-bedroom, 1 1/2-bathroom Colonial on a quarter-acre sold in September for $560,000. Annual taxes of $8,400. A garden-style, one-bedroom, one-bathroom co-op with a separate dining room sold in September for $253,000, with a monthly maintenance fee of $600, which includes taxes.

Great Neck

WHY IT'S WORTH BUYING IN "This downtown is like a consolidated, mini Manhattan," says Mona Holzman, branch manager for June Shapiro Realty Laffey Associates in Great Neck. There are more than 40 restaurants and nearly 125 stores, Holzman says. Downtown also is home to a LIRR station, several parks, a movie theater and a post office.

WHAT THE NUMBERS SHOW

In the second quarter, the average sales price in Great Neck - slightly more than $1 million -- was significantly higher than the average sales price in Nassau County -- $621,300.

WHAT'S ON THE MARKET

About 40 percent co-ops, 20 percent condos, 20 percent single-family homes, and 20 percent rentals. A new condo development is just breaking ground, and a new rental building is opening at the end of October.

RECENT HOME SALES A four-room co-op with 1 1/2 bathrooms and a terrace sold for $350,000; maintenance is $1,089 a month. A renovated house on less than a quarter of an acre fetched $972,000. The home has four bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms and taxes of $13,475.

Long Beach

WHY IT'S WORTH BUYING IN Downtowners can walk not only to the train station but to an ocean beach and boardwalk, a multiplex, about 25 restaurants and almost 100 stores of nearly every type, says Joyce Coletti, licensed sales agent with Prudential Douglas Elliman in Long Beach.

WHAT THE NUMBERS SHOW