Developer pitches $61M Hicksville apartment building near LIRR station, with 10% for affordable housing
A rendering of Cornerstone Hicksville, a 106-unit mixed-use development to be built on 2 acres near the LIRR station in Hicksville. Credit: Terwilliger & Bartone
A developer plans to build 106 apartments with retail space in Hicksville, part of a long-sought effort to revitalize the area near the hamlet’s LIRR station.
The $61 million project, Cornerstone Hicksville, is slated to be built on two adjacent properties on Jerusalem Avenue between Nelson Street and West Marie Avenue. It will contain 4,000 square feet of retail space and studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. A total of 10% of the apartments will be set aside for affordable housing, said Anthony Bartone, a managing partner with Terwilliger & Bartone Properties, which is developing the complex.
The proposal follows a series of other private projects underway that aim to bring more housing and commercial businesses to downtown Hicksville. The state awarded $10 million to the Town of Oyster Bay in 2017 as part of its Downtown Revitalization Initiative. Earlier this year, the town launched a multimillion dollar project to improve walkability and create pedestrian areas under the railroad trestle.
Bartone said the effort “is the culmination of well over a decade worth of work that the town and local stakeholders have put into this.”
“The Hicksville train station is arguably one of the busiest train hubs on Long Island,” Bartone said in an interview. “Repurposing underutilized properties around that station just makes a ton of sense.”
Currently, the two properties contain a Bank of America building and a separate structure with a laundromat and deli. The bank building will get a new facade, while the other building will be demolished, Bartone said.
Eric Alexander, executive director of Vision Long Island, said the project is “a unique one” that can take advantage of a still-standing building that will be repurposed.
“We know the more that gets built around that train station — and some of the older buildings get transformed within the framework of the town’s plan and the community’s plan — it’ll be successful,” Alexander said.
The developer filed plans with the town and is reviewing comments that officials provided, Bartone said. The town board will have to approve a site plan for the project.
In late 2023, construction began on a 189-unit project with 338 parking spaces and 7,660 square feet of commercial space. Late last year, the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency granted tax breaks to a 20-unit apartment building as well as a 104-unit mixed-use complex, both near the Long Island Rail Road station.
The Town of Oyster Bay used eminent domain to seize properties that will be used as parking lots near the train station. The town this year began work on a new pedestrian path called Festival Plaza, an extension of Kennedy Park, and the establishment of The Underline, an area under the train that will contain pop-up shops and outdoor cafes.
Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino, in a statement, said the private sector is injecting capital into Hicksville and that Cornerstone represents “another multi-million dollar investment that will enhance areas near the train station.”
“Together with the town’s beautification projects, we are transforming Hicksville into a state of the art downtown,” Saladino said.
Bartone forecasts breaking ground on the project in late 2026, with apartments coming on the market about two years later.
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