Hempstead residents pick ideas for village

A recreation center, movie theater, bowling alley and market square were the top four ideas selected by Hempstead Village residents to be considered for the village's $2-billion plan to revitalize its downtown, according to a presentation last week by a national business development expert.

Kennedy Smith, of the Arlington, Va.-based Community Land Use and Economics Group, conducted feasibility studies for the Renew Hempstead website's four vote-getters and said each could be successful, but the rec center would require outside funding or a nonprofit to run it to be viable. She presented her findings to more than 50 residents at the Hempstead Public Library on Thursday night.

"The whole purpose of the studies is because we don't want businesses to come here and fail," said Brandon Palanker, of Renaissance Downtowns, project master developer along with UrbanAmerica Advisors.

About 3,000 new downtown households would translate into $57 million in retail demand, said Smith, adding that residents spend $300 million a year outside the village.

"Hempstead has a sales leakage," said Smith, who had met with 24 owners of village businesses during three sessions earlier that day. Each of the four top vote-getters would help combat that problem, she said.

Toward the end of Smith's presentation, several store owners interrupted her to express their concerns about the potential displacement of small businesses. They shouted and held up signs advocating "protection for small businesses" in the community benefits agreement being negotiated by village officials and the developers.

Sean McLean, of Renaissance Downtowns, tried to explain that the meeting was about the feasibility studies, not about the community benefits agreement.

"We are not going to grab your business from behind you," McLean said. "That's not how we run our business."

The meeting ended abruptly amid yelling from the crowd about the agreement and the project's potential impact -- before Smith could outline ways existing businesses could increase sales. Among her tips: improve storefront window displays, develop websites, stay open until 6 p.m., make local deliveries and add new products. The developers also had planned to discuss economic stimulus efforts such as cash mobs, which encourage people to go en masse into a local business and spend their money, they said.

"Hopefully, we can build that trust so that when we say something, you can believe it," Palanker said.