Huntington weighs new development in Melville Town Center Overlay District

Huntington officials are weighing a new mixed-use proposal with 168 units of housing, the second project eyed for the town's Melville Town Center Overlay District.

The town board scheduled a Sept. 15 public hearing on the plan during a meeting on Tuesday. At the meeting, residents pressed for clarity on how the town would address concerns about residential growth.

Cornerstone Melville, from developer Terwilliger & Bartone, would include a four-story building and a pair of two-story townhomes at 115 Baylis Rd. The $85 million project would bring 168 rental and for-sale residences and more than 20,000 square feet of office and retail space to the new zoning district.

The board's vote to set the hearing comes with ongoing debate over the district, which was approved in December 2024. It allowed for a "walkable downtown" in Melville with up to 1,500 housing units, Newsday has reported.

In April, the board approved the first application submitted under the district: Steel 75 Maxess LLC's proposal for 400 housing units in several buildings, to be built at Maxess Road and Corporate Center Drive. 

The terms of the overlay district require the town to pause accepting new residential applications once submissions reach 400 units. The town is required to pause again after each successive 400-unit submission to assess the cumulative impact on traffic, emergency services and schools.

Some residents said they understood the threshold to mean the town would wait until the first 400 were built and occupied before deciding whether to allow more development.

Supervisor Ed Smyth said Tuesday that was not the intent.

He said the pause was meant to control the pace at which applications come before the town, not require developers to complete and occupy 400 units before another application can proceed.

“The pause was not going to be a stop,” Smyth said. “The pause acted as a break on overdevelopment.”

Christine Geed, a town spokesperson, has said there is no specific time frame for how long the pauses can last.

Smyth's explanation came as residents raised concerns about how additional housing could affect schools, water, infrastructure and traffic, especially with other development planned for the area. NYU Langone Health detailed a plan in June for Long Island's first new hospital since 1980, at 1 and 2 Huntington Quadrangle. A portion of the project will lie in the overlay district. 

Leslie Tolep, a Huntington resident, questioned how the town could accurately assess the effect of a development without first seeing it occupied.

“If you don’t see the impact of the 400 units once they’re developed, occupied and used, then you have no way of gauging whether or not you could extend another 168 units,” Tolep said.

Not all residents opposed the project.

Anthony Cacciato, a Huntington resident and law student at Touro Law Center, said the development could provide opportunities for young Long Islanders struggling to afford homes in the area.

“It’s heartening to see that there’s this sort of bold and necessary action being taken by the town board,” he said.

Anthony Bartone, chief executive of Terwilliger & Bartone, said in a phone interview that the pause has slowed the project's path.

“We have been working on this for two years,” Bartone said. "It's been a long time coming."