Medford civic leaders oppose plans for 5,000-car auto mall
Brett Houdek, president of the Medford Taxpayers and Civic Association, seen here on Dec. 9, 2015. Credit: Randee Daddona
Medford civic leaders who helped block Suffolk OTB from building a casino at the site of a former movie theater are planning a sequel.
The president of the Medford Taxpayers and Civic Association said the group opposes a plan by Brooklyn-based Plaza Auto Mall to store as many as 5,000 cars at a 32-acre property on the Long Island Expressway South Service Road, about a half-mile east of Route 112.
Most of the vacant rubble-strewn property, formerly the Brookhaven multiplex, is zoned for commercial recreation. It requires new zoning to allow a car dealership.
“We’re 100 percent opposed to that use,” civic association president Brett Houdek said in an interview. “What that is going to perpetuate is the blight south of the train tracks moving north to residential communities.”
Suffolk County Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. had purchased the land for about $10.95 million in 2014 to construct a video-lottery casino. OTB officials dropped that plan in 2016 amid opposition from the Medford civic group and Brookhaven Town officials.
Suffolk OTB opened a video betting parlor last year at Jake’s 58 Hotel & Casino in Islandia.
OTB plans to sell the Medford property to Plaza Auto Mall for about $12 million if Brookhaven approves the zoning change. OTB President Phil Nolan declined to comment.
Billy Germano, a Holbrook attorney representing the auto mall, said the proposal had been approved by the Suffolk County Planning Commission, adding he is “working with local residents and the Town of Brookhaven to improve the application.”
Brookhaven Councilman Neil Foley, who represents Medford, said he opposes the zoning change. A public hearing on the issue scheduled for March 13 has been postponed; a new date has not been set, he said.
Foley said the site would be used to store about 5,000 cars, which would be sold online.
“It’s too intense for the area,” Foley said. “Right now I’m not in favor of it at all.”
Houdek said residents prefer to see an office building at the site.
“We want it to be something visible from the expressway where it says, ‘Hey, I want to come to Medford,’ not, ‘Hey, I want to see a junk car lot,’ ” he said.
Foley said efforts to attract developers to the site have been difficult, adding the auto mall is the only company that has shown interest in the property since OTB dropped the casino plan.
“It’s 33 acres of concrete. I wish there were more applications for it,” Foley said. “The community is really looking to reinvent itself and go in a different direction.”
Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.
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