By Jennifer Corr
jcorr@antonnews.com
The now closed Hampton Inn is located at 120 Jericho Turnpike in Jericho, located at the intersection where the Jericho Turnpike runs under the Long Island Expressway and meets with the South Service Road, may be getting some new residents who will stay longer than just a weekend or so.
The hotel is located 12 minutes away from the New York Institute of Technology campus in Old Westbury, making it ideal housing for students. The building has 80 units and 81 parking spaces. Because it’s surrounded by busy highways, there’s no residential houses near it. Instead, you can find car dealerships, offices, fast food, retail and a Home Depot.
Counselor Jeff Forchelli of Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP went in front of the Oyster Bay Town Board on March 21 to represent applicants Vesta Acquisitions LLC, a contract vendee of the property at 120 Jericho Turnpike, and New York Institute of Technology, the proposed tenant. The owner of the property is 120 West End LLC. The applicants were seeking a special use permit and site plan approval to replace the existing approvals on the property, as well as provide new covenants and restrictions to permit the use of the property as proposed, which is to make it a dorm for students of New York Tech.
“It will be in the best interest of the town, as well as New York Tech,” said Forchelli. “The 80 units will have a controlled entrance, where you come into the building on the south side. It will be just like my dorm in college where there was a front desk there and the students will check in and go by. It regulates what comes in and out of the building. Dining will not be done on the facility. Dining will be done at New York Tech… There will be some resident parking. There will also be parking for vans that go back and forth from the facility to New York Tech. There will be shuttle service. On weekdays there will be two shuttles running back and forth between 7 and 11 a.m. and one shuttle running between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. On weekends, there will be various round-trips to the campus and to local shopping for the residents there without cars.”
There will be a mix between single and double occupancy of the rooms. Some of the students will have cars, but they must have a decal on their car.
There will also be security guards on the property, provided by New York Tech, who will be there seven days a week from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. There will be a full time residence hall director who will live there, as well as an associate director, a student resident assistant and staffing at the front desk on a regular basis. There will also be cameras.
“It will be a very secure facility where our students will be,” Forchelli said. “I think this will be a much more controlled use then what was there and what was proposed to be there. I think it will be in the best interest of the Town of Oyster Bay, of NYIT and the community in general. And we feel we have very little impact.”
The Town of Oyster Bay will leave the public record of the matter open for 30 days, meaning residents can write in their thoughts via letter or email.
