Doubleday court condominium garden city ny

A Touch of Transit-Oriented Development For Garden City

By Rikki N. Massand

Doubleday Court, the new 54-unit luxury condominium complex at 301 Franklin Avenue, has brought a new lifestyle image to the village. Apparently, enough buyers were hungry for a walk-first and commute-friendly lifestyle in Garden City.

At the Thursday, June 5 Village Board meeting Director of Buildings Michael D. Fillipon announced that Doubleday sold out every unit at the development. Some residents in attendance and a few village trustees looked shocked to hear the update, turning their thoughts to several scenarios.

For Deputy Mayor Nicholas Episcopia and other members of the board, collecting taxes from condo owners for this year or next became a primary consideration. Occupancy is expected to start at Doubleday very early in 2015, however.

According to the condominium complex’s developer, the Engel Burman Group, it was a 10-month turnaround from offering sales to selling out every unit. Doubleday started its sales process at the beginning of August 2013 by presenting prospective buyers an offering plan. But a few weeks before then, nearly one year ago, the Garden City Chamber of Commerce hosted a meet and greet event at the complex in its first-floor model apartment.

Althea Robinson, director of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce, says it was a well-attended event and many longtime village residents were invited. She believes the event and Doubleday’s location drew heavy interest, adding that sales for the development were naturally a soft target at the time.

Once Robinson was in the building and in particular the model unit, she says she walked away “wanting one of their amazing kitchens.” Robinson reiterated her positive impression at the Thursday, June 19 Village Board meeting and noted Doubleday Court’s membership in the chamber of commerce as a welcome addition.

Ellen Antonucci, vice president of sales and marketing for the Engel Burman Group, says Doubleday Court’s greatest draw was its location on two different fronts: longtime Garden City residents who were enthused by a new lifestyle offering in the village, and those up-and-coming in their careers who were seeking a feasible commute to either Manhattan or Long Island workplaces.

“A number of them [buyers] were from Garden City, and they love living in Garden City. They wanted to downsize and simplify their lives but still be comfortable in the area that they grew up in, raised children in, and stay close to family and friends,” Antonucci said.

She noted that Engel Burman fully expected this to be case when it undertook the project.

“We fully recognized that Garden City is such a village that people love it. This is a walk-to-town location, they know the shopkeepers, it still has a sense of village, and it’s just central,” she said.

Many apartment or multi-dwelling unit communities across the U.S. have sprang up in towns that can offer better public transportation options and immediate conveniences such as stores, eateries, and recreation. These projects have come to be known as transit-oriented development (T.O.D.) and in some cases, such as in New Jersey, they are commonly referred to as transit villages. The commute condo buyers in this part of the country are interested in is Manhattan, as many work in big New York businesses.

“You can walk to the train station, you can walk to the village. While maybe Doubleday Court does not meet all the criteria (for a T.O.D.) you really don’t need a car. Certainly a number of our residents work in the city so it’s an easy commute,” Antonucci said.

She estimated that over 25 to 30 percent of Doubleday’s future residents work in Manhattan, as she put it, usually “one of the couple.”

Some of the appeal for Garden City, though, does come from its access to further away points on Long Island as it is near all the major highways, shopping centers and rail lines. Antonucci explained that Engel Burman, while having 25 years experience with residences on Long Island and particularly with luxury apartment homes, was happy to secure Doubleday Court since there is such a limited commodity of “main street properties” that can even come close to the transit-oriented designation.

“It was a perfect site for that purcontinued pose. If you read our brochures we do highlight the access to LIRR, the town, St. Paul’s – it really meets so many of the ideals and criteria that people on Long Island look for,” she said.

Common threads to T.O.D.’s such as proximity to New York City are obvious, and the village maintains a more indigenous feel because it is only minutes from Queens, part of the five boroughs.

Also, commuters from western Nassau County generally have more than one public transportation option to get to New York. There is a continuous flow and overlap in several parts of Nassau with towns sharing multiple roads, both major thoroughfares and side streets, unlike areas suburban to Washington, D.C. or Philadelphia for example.

Doubleday Court is a different move for the developer as it was an openmarket offering, meaning it was free of age restrictions. Sales data indicates that a majority of buyers at Doubleday – close to 90 percent – are empty nesters who were already local to Garden City. She says a handful of young professionals make up most of the rest of buyers, estimating an age range in the early thirties for the less-represented demographic.

While relying on your car isn’t the premise, parking is fairly standard and convenient for condo owners at Doubleday. Each unit is assigned one space in the parking garage, and surrounding the property there are spaces available for residents and guests.

Antonucci reflected on Doubleday’s similarities to Engel Burman’s assisted living property in Westbury, The Bristal, located right next to the LIRR and also described as “a walk to town.”

The Engel Burman Group has the bulk of its portfolio in senior housing. It owns, develops and manages the Bristol assisted living chain for adults with an average age of 85. There are also multiple 55-plus communities that the group manages.

“A large part of our business is catering to the senior buyer. We currently have 11 operating communities, seven of which are on Long Island and we are opening an eighth. We also have two assisted living communities in Westchester County and one in Bergen County, New Jersey,” Antonucci said.

Doubleday Court may be centrally located on Franklin Avenue, but it signals new territory for its developer, several longtime village residents, and Garden City’s suburban realm.