Hempstead seeks to build indoor recreation center on shuttered Capri Motel site
Hempstead Town is proposing to build an indoor recreation center at the shuttered West Hempstead motel, seen here in August 2023.
Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
Hempstead Town officials are proposing to build an indoor recreation center at the shuttered West Hempstead motel, which the town seeks to seize through eminent domain, the town attorney said last month.
A town consultant announced the proposal last month during a hearing on the condemnation of the Capri Motel, also known as Capri Motor Inn, in West Hempstead.
The town shut the business last August for alleged safety violations and declared it a nuisance due to alleged criminal activity taking place on or near the premises.
“The town has decided that they have a public purpose and that public purpose is to in fact have a recreational facility, so, we are condemning the property,” Town Attorney John Maccarone said during an April 9 hearing.
Details about the proposed recreation facility are vague.
In an April 4 report commissioned by the town, the town’s outside consultants, Melville-based Nelson, Pope & Voorhis LLC, wrote that a “conceptual building” in a “sketch plan” was “sized to provide a maximum degree of flexibility to accommodate a range of activities” such as basketball, volleyball and indoor soccer.
The report, which details the town's rationales for seizing the property, refers to a “preliminary concept plan” that explains the proposal for the recreation center. That section of the report, however, was missing from documents made available for inspection by the town clerk’s office last week.
Town Clerk Kate Murray did not respond to an emailed request for access to the document last week and the clerk's office did not say where the missing document is.
Town officials last month made documents about the condemnation available to public inspection at the town clerk’s office.
The report describes the concept as “preliminary” and the report notes it “should not be taken to represent an actual proposal for future development, as further review and evaluation by the Town is necessary before a final concept can be selected for detailed design and construction.”
The stated intent is to “provide a pubic use that allows the Town to expand recreational opportunities for its residents, partially those living in West Hempstead and adjacent areas.”
An April 8 environmental assessment, included in the file at the clerk’s office, described the “sketch plan” as showing an 18,500-square-foot, one-story building, with approximately 50 parking spaces on a 1.1 acre site.
While the report states there are four town parks within one mile of the site, it notes three of those provide only outdoor facilities and the one with indoor facilities includes a pool and gym.
Christian Browne, of Garden City-based McLaughlin & Stern LLP, an attorney for the motel owner, L & S Realty Co. LLC, told the town board during a Jan. 30 hearing that taking property to cure an alleged nuisance would be illegal.
"You cannot say that you’re going to take someone’s private property because you don’t like the people who operated it or you deem it to be a nuisance,” Browne told the board. "Taking this property as a parking lot, for a park, for a recreation center, that's a valid public purpose."
Mark Luccarelli, another attorney at McLaughlin & Stern LLP, at the April 9 hearing acknowledged that the town’s plans had changed but didn’t address how that could affect the eminent domain case.
“I understand that now there is a public purpose being proposed in the form of an indoor recreational facility of some kind,” Luccarelli said at the hearing. "And I understand that at the original hearing there was no such public purpose, so, obviously that is a change between the two hearings.”
Luccarelli said at the hearing that two dozen charges related to alleged code violations had been dismissed with prejudice in state court.
“My client is innocent of any violations of that town code as demonstrated by the district court judge's order,” Luccarelli said at the hearing.
Town Supervisor Donald X. Clavin Jr. responded, “Thank you, counselor.”
The town is taking public comments on eminent domain through Thursday.
Retired state judge Anthony F. Marano, who was appointed by the town board in December as special referee in the eminent domain proceedings, plans to make recommendations to the town board on eminent domain by May 12.
Hempstead Town officials are proposing to build an indoor recreation center at the shuttered West Hempstead motel, which the town seeks to seize through eminent domain, the town attorney said last month.
A town consultant announced the proposal last month during a hearing on the condemnation of the Capri Motel, also known as Capri Motor Inn, in West Hempstead.
The town shut the business last August for alleged safety violations and declared it a nuisance due to alleged criminal activity taking place on or near the premises.
“The town has decided that they have a public purpose and that public purpose is to in fact have a recreational facility, so, we are condemning the property,” Town Attorney John Maccarone said during an April 9 hearing.
Proposed West Hempstead Indoor Recreation Center
- 18,500 square foot building
- 50 parking spaces
- Could be used for basketball, volleyball and indoor soccer
SOURCE: Town of Hempstead
Details about the proposed recreation facility are vague.
In an April 4 report commissioned by the town, the town’s outside consultants, Melville-based Nelson, Pope & Voorhis LLC, wrote that a “conceptual building” in a “sketch plan” was “sized to provide a maximum degree of flexibility to accommodate a range of activities” such as basketball, volleyball and indoor soccer.
The report, which details the town's rationales for seizing the property, refers to a “preliminary concept plan” that explains the proposal for the recreation center. That section of the report, however, was missing from documents made available for inspection by the town clerk’s office last week.
Town Clerk Kate Murray did not respond to an emailed request for access to the document last week and the clerk's office did not say where the missing document is.
Town officials last month made documents about the condemnation available to public inspection at the town clerk’s office.
The report describes the concept as “preliminary” and the report notes it “should not be taken to represent an actual proposal for future development, as further review and evaluation by the Town is necessary before a final concept can be selected for detailed design and construction.”
The stated intent is to “provide a pubic use that allows the Town to expand recreational opportunities for its residents, partially those living in West Hempstead and adjacent areas.”
An April 8 environmental assessment, included in the file at the clerk’s office, described the “sketch plan” as showing an 18,500-square-foot, one-story building, with approximately 50 parking spaces on a 1.1 acre site.
While the report states there are four town parks within one mile of the site, it notes three of those provide only outdoor facilities and the one with indoor facilities includes a pool and gym.
Christian Browne, of Garden City-based McLaughlin & Stern LLP, an attorney for the motel owner, L & S Realty Co. LLC, told the town board during a Jan. 30 hearing that taking property to cure an alleged nuisance would be illegal.
"You cannot say that you’re going to take someone’s private property because you don’t like the people who operated it or you deem it to be a nuisance,” Browne told the board. "Taking this property as a parking lot, for a park, for a recreation center, that's a valid public purpose."
Mark Luccarelli, another attorney at McLaughlin & Stern LLP, at the April 9 hearing acknowledged that the town’s plans had changed but didn’t address how that could affect the eminent domain case.
“I understand that now there is a public purpose being proposed in the form of an indoor recreational facility of some kind,” Luccarelli said at the hearing. "And I understand that at the original hearing there was no such public purpose, so, obviously that is a change between the two hearings.”
Luccarelli said at the hearing that two dozen charges related to alleged code violations had been dismissed with prejudice in state court.
“My client is innocent of any violations of that town code as demonstrated by the district court judge's order,” Luccarelli said at the hearing.
Town Supervisor Donald X. Clavin Jr. responded, “Thank you, counselor.”
The town is taking public comments on eminent domain through Thursday.
Retired state judge Anthony F. Marano, who was appointed by the town board in December as special referee in the eminent domain proceedings, plans to make recommendations to the town board on eminent domain by May 12.
