Study: Apartments near LIRR stations still scarce
The Modera, a building with rental units that recently opened near the Mineola LIRR station, is 70 percent occupied. Credit: Danielle Finkelstein
Fewer than one in three Long Island apartments are located near train stations — and that does not appear to be changing, a new report finds.
Of the Island’s more than 83,000 existing rental units, 30 percent are within a half-mile of train stations, the Long Island Index reported in a study to be released Wednesday. Of the roughly 20,500 rentals proposed for construction, even fewer — 27 percent — are close to a Long Island Rail Road stop, according to the Index, a project of the Garden City-based Rauch Foundation.
The Island is “in danger of missing the opportunities for greater reliance on rail” if it does not encourage more downtown development, the report concluded.
In Westchester, New Jersey and Connecticut, young adults and baby boomers are flocking to new rentals in revitalized downtowns, said Ann Golob, director of the Long Island Index.
Those communities “have figured out how to begin to make this work,” Golob said. “If Long Island doesn’t figure this out, we really will have fewer young people choosing to live here.”
The report includes interactive maps of multifamily developments on the Island showing detailed information about apartment buildings, as well as the Island’s nearly 79,000 co-ops and condominiums. Hempstead and Freeport have the most rentals near train stations: 4,253 and 2,550, respectively, followed by Rockville Centre with nearly 1,800, and Great Neck, Long Beach and Mineola with roughly 1,200 each.
In Mineola, a new 275-unit apartment building opened in October, about a third of a mile from the Mineola LIRR station. Rents range from about $2,400 for a one-bedroom to nearly $3,700 for a two-bedroom with a loft.
The developer, Dallas, Texas-based Mill Creek Residential Trust, builds near train stations because that’s what affluent renters want, said Russell Tepper, a senior managing director with the compnay. “They’d prefer to have more disposable income to spend on cultural experiences, on outside dining, on vacations, rather than on maintaining a home,” Tepper said.
The Mineola building is 70 percent occupied, a faster-than-anticipated rate, with 45 percent of its residents ages 18 to 35, and 20 percent older than 55, he said.
Maura McDermott covers education. Since joining Newsday in 2012, she also has worked on the investigations team and covered real estate and the business of health care.
Out East: Nettie's Country Bakery ... Rising beef prices ... Get the latest news and more great videos at NewsdayTV
Out East: Nettie's Country Bakery ... Rising beef prices ... Get the latest news and more great videos at NewsdayTV
