Dreaming of new housing in the Long Island heartland
David Wolkoff talks about the original plans for Heartland Town Square in Brentwood at Hofstra University in June 2011 in Uniondale. Credit: Howard Schnapp
When New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani met with President Donald Trump in Washington last month, the pair apparently spent much of their time talking about housing.
After all, Trump is a businessman and a developer. So why not appeal to his builder instincts?
Mamdani spotlighted Sunnyside Yards, an Amtrak-owned railyard in Queens which also accommodates Long Island Rail Road trains. The area comes up often when someone is dreaming big dreams for new housing in the region. Mamdani's idea isn't new: Build a platform over the tracks and construct 12,000 units of housing, parks, schools and more on top.
If only it were that simple. Every previous attempt to develop Sunnyside Yards has failed, due to cost, the objections of local elected officials, pushback from neighbors or a lack of will from city leaders.
Mamdani is seeking a staggering $21 billion in federal grants for the necessary deck.
I have a better idea. Take just a slice of those funds and bring them east, add new infrastructure and thousands of housing units, and create a new neighborhood known as Heartland Town Square.
Heartland first emerged in 2003 as the vision of developer Gerald Wolkoff, who hoped to remake 452 acres of Brentwood land on the site of the former Pilgrim Psychiatric Center. When fully built out, Heartland could include 9,000 housing units, plus retail, office and entertainment space. It could add 25,000 jobs and vastly expand the tax base.
It would be extraordinary — for Brentwood, Long Island and beyond.
Bringing Heartland to fruition won't be easy. But the Brentwood effort is more doable and has significantly more support than Sunnyside Yards. Islip Town already approved the first phase, for more than 3,000 units and 1.2 million square feet of commercial development.
Wolkoff died nearly six years ago, and his son, David, has since taken up his legacy. The younger Wolkoff has completed other projects, including 5 Pointz in Long Island City — not far from Sunnyside Yards. But progress on Heartland has been slow, which has led some advocates to wonder whether David Wolkoff wants to see it through.
Wolkoff has an answer.
"The will is certainly there. The desire is certainly there. And I would love to get going," Wolkoff said in an interview this month.
Unsurprisingly, challenges remain. Most significantly, Suffolk County officials must work with Wolkoff and the state to provide sewage treatment to the development. Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine has ideas, and has spoken to Gov. Kathy Hochul about Heartland's needs. Hochul allocated funds for water infrastructure in her executive budget. Those are hopeful signs. Like with many developments, there will be legal and financing issues to resolve.
But none of that is insurmountable, especially if the "will" Wolkoff expressed is shared by others. And it is. Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter, for instance, said this month that she's all in, noting that Islip has been "ahead of the curve" on building and approving housing, allowing efforts like Heartland to move forward now.
"This has to happen and happen soon," Carpenter said. "Let's not wait another 10, 20 years. It's going to cost us that much more and the needs are going to be that much greater."
There's no need to wait. The will is there. The funds, approvals and infrastructure are within reach. Put it all together — and we might just be able to watch a Town Square rise.
Columnist Randi F. Marshall's opinions are her own.
Randi Marshall is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
