How Melville became the site for NYU Langone's hospital plan

An innovative land use plan that had been kicked around for years helped secure Long Island’s first new hospital proposal in decades.

The approval by Huntington Town officials of new zoning — the Melville Town Center Overlay District — in 2024 played a key role in NYU Langone Health's decision to build in the area, according to town and hospital officials.

For the last 12 years, the question of how to capitalize on Melville's prime location near the Nassau-Suffolk Border, along the Route 110 corridor, has been in the sights of town officials. Part of the community, east of Route 110 and south of the Long Island Expressway, features clusters of office buildings that in recent years have sat underused on lightly traveled streets.

Former Town Supervisor Frank Petrone, who left office in 2017, said he regularly met with local civic groups to discuss redeveloping the area with the hope of creating a downtown, and to raise commercial tax revenue. Efforts didn't get off the ground.

In 2021, before he left office, then-Town Supervisor Chad Lupinacci unsuccessfully attempted to pass an overlay district zoning category for the hamlet.

Finally, in December 2024, Town Supervisor Ed Smyth was able to get the district approved, setting the stage for massive changes.

Why did the current plan succeed where others failed?

Smyth said previous proposals never got traction because the focus was on making Route 110 Main Street, something that wasn't conducive to a walkable downtown that had been long sought.

“We shifted our focus one block east and said, 'Maxess Road is Main Street,'” Smyth said. “All these previous ideas that you’re going to turn Route 110 in Melville into some type of boulevard or Main Street corridor was pure folly. It’s too busy of a road.”

Housing plan OKd

Then earlier this year, town officials approved a Bethpage-based developer's Melville Town Center project: A plan to build hundreds of housing units and transform part of the hamlet. Plans also call for restaurants, shops and housing amenities.

“We envisioned a walkable downtown, and a key component of a walkable downtown is people walking,” Smyth said.

Langone's plan, within walking distance, would only add to that. “I think an academic medical center of this magnitude will certainly bring people to the town center,” Smyth said.

NYU Langone paid $135.5 million for the Huntington Quadrangle buildings in a deal that closed May 21, health system officials said. The facilities have been run by property manager The We’re Group.

“We love the site,” NYU Langone CEO Alec C. Kimmelman told Newsday on Monday. “It's an amazing location."

NYU Langone plans to demolish 1 Huntington Quadrangle to make way for the new hospital, while 2 Huntington Quadrangle would be used for offices.

The exact height of the hospital has yet to be determined, said Vicki Match Suna, the health system’s executive vice president and vice dean of real estate development and facilities.

She said the Melville site offers plenty of room for expansion and is part of the plan for a walkable neighborhood.

Kimmelman cited a number of reasons the health system selected Melville. There was proximity to the LIE and the system’s Patchogue hospital; being close to the border of Nassau and Suffolk counties; and the overlay district itself. 

“We think this [town center] dovetails perfectly, because it's going to have housing for our residents, our students, the young doctors, and they'll be part of a vibrant community,” he said.

Boosts seen to healthcare, economy

Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine said Tuesday that NYU Langone’s proposed academic medical center will improve the medical services available to county residents, joining Northwell Health, Catholic Health and Stony Brook Medicine.

“We are improving dramatically the healthcare of Suffolk County with the location of NYU Langone. … We're going to have some of the best healthcare facilities in the United States, right here in Suffolk County,” he said.

It will also be a boost to the local economy.

“It's going to create hundreds of construction jobs, and then permanent jobs that are high-paying health care jobs that are going to drive the economy in Suffolk County,” Romaine said.

Langone officials said there are no plans to seek tax breaks or other aid from the state or Suffolk County.

Romaine also pledged that there would be sufficient sewers to support the medical center. “I guaranteed to them they would have the sewer capacity that they would need for a hospital of this size,” he said.

Smyth said that though a hospital had not been on the list of businesses he thought the overlay district would attract, it’s an obvious benefit.

“You can't overstate the positive impacts this will have on Huntington and Suffolk County at large,” he said.

Newsday's Jonathan LaMantia and Victor Ocasio contributed to this story.