By Betsy Scheinbart
State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans), Long Island Rail Road President Ken Bauer and several St. Albans community leaders officially marked Tuesday the start of multimillion-dollar renovation projects at the St. Albans, Hollis and Rosedale train stations.
Smith joined St. Albans Chamber of Commerce President Allan Pope and other local business leaders who hope the nearly $4 million renovations at the St. Albans station will further economic growth on Linden Boulevard.
The Rosedale station will be getting a more than $5 million face-lift, said Bauer and Dennis George, the chief engineer for the projects.
The St. Albans and Rosedale renovations will each take about two years, Bauer said.
George said the two stations would be completely replaced with more modern, aesthetically pleasing stations and better lighting systems. The St. Albans station will also gain a staircase that connects to Baisley Boulevard.
The stations will remain open during the renovations, which will tackle the platforms one segment at a time, Bauer and George said.
Improvements were already done over the summer on the Queens Village and Hollis stations, but Smith said more repairs were scheduled for the platforms at the Hollis station.
As for the St. Albans station, Smith said he was very excited to see the project in forward motion.
“The community deserves it,” Smith said of the St. Albans renovations. “This is a very solid neighborhood, which deserves to have all the public resources of every other community.”
Smith started petitioning the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to fix the stations after he fell into a hole in the St. Albans platform the size of a desk. He toured other stations in southeast Queens and found them in similar disrepair.
The state senator said he was satisfied with the relatively quick action the MTA and the state government took in order to secure the funding for the renovations.
“I see the wheels of government turning,” Smith said, “I am very pleased that $7 to $10 million will be spent on this station and the ones in Rosedale and Hollis.”
The funds for the renovations come from the MTA through the state government.
The groundbreaking in St. Albans was held in a garbage-strew lot adjacent to the station on Linden Boulevard.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is cleaning the area and donating the lot to the community for use as park or other non-commercial public space, Bauer and George said.
The St. Albans Civic Association, Economic Development Corporation and Chamber of Commerce will work together to decide what the lot will become, Smith said.
Pope said the Chamber of Commerce hope the renovations will bring a great benefit to the community.
“With an increase in riders, there will be an increase in sales, especially with businesses in the immediate area,” Pope said.
Serena McCrary, who owns a braid shop across the street on Linden Boulevard, said the improvements in the station would probably make her customers more at ease.
“A lot of my customers take the train and they get nervous,” McCrary said, but when the station is cleaned up, she said she thinks more people will want to stop in St. Albans.
McCrary also said she hoped that with better lighting, the lot would be a safer shortcut to Baisley Boulevard at nighttime.
The Rev. John Lundy, who has owned John’s Barber Shop on Linden Boulevard since 1968, agreed with McCrary, saying he hoped the renovations and improved lighting would make people feel safer on the commercial strip and even reduce the number of robberies in the area.
“Maybe then people won’t be afraid to come in the neighborhood at night,” Lundy said.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300 Ext. 138.
