Developer's new vision for Glen Cove plaza

As he looked to enliven his old commercial plaza in the heart of Glen Cove, Mike Puntillo found inspiration in an architecture tour book.

"City Squares of the World" featured the grand public spaces of Rome and Venice, where shops and apartments surround civic gathering points. Glen Cove Village Square already includes a common place for activities, but it -- and the offices around -- appear worn.

So Puntillo, president of Great Neck's Jobco Realty and Construction, is creating the feel of an Italian piazza with "Village Piazza." The $60-million privately financed proposal would redevelop his 35-year-old Village Square with 142 apartments (half meant for graduate students), 27,632 square feet of retail space and a refurbished, decorative-brick public plaza.

"Clearly it needed to be improved," Puntillo said of the property between School and Brewster streets, which his company GCVS LLC owns. "It wasn't a large space. It wasn't a particularly attractive place."

The city planning board has reviewed the special permit application for several months, and recently set a public hearing for June 21. Glen Cove's new master plan allows housing in a commercial business district overlay.

Last week, the City Council issued its recommendations for the project, including that Jobco fund nearby park and parking improvements, and provide public wireless Internet access and security cameras.

Puntillo said he is in talks with New York Institute of Technology's College of Osteopathic Medicine in Old Westbury to market 76 of the units to medical graduate students.

City leaders said the students would bring revenue to area restaurants, farmers markets and festivals. The housing and retail component of the project, they said, corrects master planning efforts of the 1970s that largely abandoned suburban downtown housing.

"They look at the mistakes of the past and say, 'We want people downtown. We want the vitality. We want the mixed uses,' " said Glen Cove Mayor Ralph Suozzi. "It's really back to the future."

The Piazza project, which would be built by Jobco, calls for four- and five-story buildings with ground-level retail and balcony apartments above, with space between buildings connecting to Pratt Park.

Eric Alexander, director of Vision Long Island, which supports the downtown development, said the plans show a vitality now missing from Glen Cove Village Square's "dreary" concrete square.

"It's not just a housing plan, it has the details that go into creating a good public space," he said, noting proximity to a now-underutilized parking garage and existing businesses. "You want to keep those places open. This adds fuel to the downtown."

Pending city approvals, Puntillo hopes to break ground in the fall, with completion expected to take 18 months.

VILLAGE PIAZZA PROPOSAL

APARTMENTS: 142, of which 76 may be marketed to medical graduate students

RETAIL SPACE: 27,632 square feet

PARKING SPACES: 107

ALSO IN THE PLAN: Decorative brick-and-concrete public square for concerts, events and outdoor dining