Plans to redevelop the aging Port Jefferson Station Shopping Center with new stores and more than 200 apartments are slowly moving forward after the Brookhaven City Council approved a major zoning change.
The plan calls for reducing the number of stores at Jefferson Plaza, a strip mall built in the 1950s, and adding up to 280 apartment units, including 56 units for the developmentally disabled. Located on 10.4 acres at the intersection of Terryville Road and Route 112, Jefferson Plaza opened around 1959 and is one of Long Island’s oldest strip malls.
Officials with Islandia-based shopping center owner Starrer Associates Realty say the redeveloped plaza will bring much-needed housing to the hamlet, while adding a food court and new restaurants to the shopping center. It is said to give appearance. Valentin Starer, vice president of Starr Associates, said the shopping center has 10 tenants, but several of them are planning to leave.
Some Port Jefferson Station residents and civic leaders say they support redevelopment. But they said the proposal included too many apartments and would create traffic problems in the area. Some residents say the plan would make the four-story building too tall for the area.
The Town Board voted 6-0 Thursday to change the property’s zoning to a new commercial redevelopment district. The town adopted this category in December 2020 to revitalize struggling business facilities such as malls and bowling alleys. This designation allows developers to add housing to areas zoned for retail and office use. Jefferson Plaza is the first project to be designated for commercial redevelopment zoning. The rezoning will allow Stahler to add residential units to the mall, which was previously zoned only for business and retail use, officials said.
“We understand that many people are looking to us to lead revitalization projects,” Stahler said. “We want this to be a community hub and really exciting. [that] People will want to go. ”
In December, the Town Board postponed a vote on the rezoning after community opposition over the scope and scale of the proposal.
Vacant storefronts in Port Jefferson Plaza on Monday. Credit: Elizabeth Sagarin
“I think it’s terrible,” Jerry Maxim, a member of the Port Jefferson Station-Terryville Civic Association, said in an interview. “I think the town of Brookhaven will give it to them.” [Staller] blank check, [and] they can do whatever they want. ”
Ira Kostel, president of the civic group, said the group has been trying to express its concerns to Staler officials for more than a year without success.
“We spent nearly 21 months without really being directly involved in this project,” Kostel said. “We would love to find a way to make this proposal a reality, but we believe this process has truly failed.”
Stahler said the height of the building and number of apartments will be determined in the future, adding: “This is not a final site plan.”
Town officials said a public meeting will be held for residents to weigh in on the final proposal.
Town Councilman Jonathan Kornreich, who represents Port Jefferson Station, said town officials will consider residents’ concerns in the next phase of the review. Kornreich said the town will need to approve a site design that includes materials to be used, as well as lighting, signage, parking and other issues.
“This area is in great need of redevelopment and revitalization,” Kornreich said. “It’s always a challenge to balance the needs of the community with the desires of developers.”
Richard Murdko, a Stony Brook University public policy professor and author of local planning blog The Foggiest Idea, said the new zoning category “makes sense” and could encourage similar redevelopment across the island. He said there is.
“We’re going to see more of this,” he told Newsday. “The City of Brookhaven is proactive and will set a precedent for other municipalities to follow.”
Port Jefferson Station resident Lois Fricke said the mall renovation was long overdue.
“This is a great project,” she told the Town Commission Thursday. “We can’t continue to leave this blighted area unattended. It needs to be repaired.”
jefferson plaza plan
The Brookhaven City Commission voted 6-0 Thursday to rezone the Jefferson Plaza Shopping Center. The center is the first to adopt Brookhaven Town’s new zoning category, which is designed to revitalize aging retail and business properties. Some residents argue the project requires too many apartments and buildings. I’m worried that it will cause traffic problems.
Carl McGowan is a Long Island native who previously covered Brookhaven Town after covering the Smithtown Courthouse in Suffolk County and numerous spot news and feature stories during his more than 20-year career at Newsday.
