Lead firm picked for Wyandanch renewal

The Town of Babylon voted Thursday to begin contract negotiations with a Garden City firm to become the master developer for the town's Wyandanch revitalization project.

Albanese Organization Inc. would be responsible for guiding the design of the redevelopment, overseeing the construction and securing the capital, said George Aridas, executive vice president of Albanese.

The firm's team includes Beatty, Harvey, Coco Architects in Hauppauge, Cameron Engineering in Woodbury, Tritec Building Co. in East Setauket and the Long Island Housing Partnership.

The massive $500 million redevelopment plan, dubbed Wyandanch Rising, seeks to revitalize the downtown by creating mixed-use residence and retail buildings along with open green space.

After a contract is signed, Albanese has proposed adding four buildings north of the LIRR station and east of Straight Path for the first phase of development. The buildings would total 285,000 square feet, with 49,500 square feet of retail, restaurant and gallery space, as well as 240 residential units. Nearly half would be two- or three-bedrooms. At least 16 percent of the units would be for sale, said town spokesman Tim Ruggeri.

Supervisor Steve Bellone said this first phase likely will cost $100 million, with $80 million coming from the private sector and $20 million from public funds. He said that while he hopes construction begins by the fall of 2012, the town is still seeking state and federal infrastructure money.

Bellone said the town chose Albanese because "They really got the community's vision and are interested and excited about making it happen." He said another factor was the firm's commitment to green building.

Aridas said his company is dedicated to sustainable development and called the project "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to affect how people live for the better and start a sustainable trend that we would hope gets replicated."

Bellone said he hopes to complete the contract by the end of the summer.