It has been just four years since this oceanfront “master plan” was conceived, and already the results are positive. The 127-acre, city-supported renaissance in the Rockaways, dubbed Arverne by the Sea by its Long Island developer, Benjamin-Beechwood LLC, has attracted well over 400 residential buyers already, with just three of six neighborhoods close to completion.
The future is still a long way off, approximately six years, said Laura Sporny, the site’s sales manager.
It will include a new school, an accredited day care center, a 30,000 square foot YMCA center with an indoor pool, fitness center, running track, meeting rooms and basketball courts.
There will be hundreds of thousands of square feet of rental stores, featuring a Super Stop & Shop, a transit plaza that will offer residents access to the NYC subway system along with a ferry to Manhattan and a boardwalk along the Atlantic Ocean.
As it is currently constituted, residents still have access to many of the city’s myriad of attractions. The A train is located nearby at Beach 67th Street and Beach 73rd Street. There is a Costco store in nearby Arverne, a short car trip away, as well as the area being a short drive from the great shopping Long Beach has to offer or other nearby destinations in Brooklyn and Queens.
The first of the six planned neighborhoods, the Sands, comprised of 32 two-family units sold like hot cakes for very affordable prices between $395,000 and $495,000.
The next two neighborhoods, Ocean Breeze and Palmer’s Landing, are nearing completion slated by the end of year. Palmer’s Landing, a development of 121 two-family homes, is completely sold out; they were priced in the range from $450,000 to $615,000 and are located near the under-construction YMCA. Ocean Breeze is made up of three mid-level condos, with pricing starting at $169,000, and just one out of 255 units remain.
The Breakers neighborhood consisting of 133 two-family homes opened for sale in November and 54 units have been sold between $575,000 to over $1 million, all right on the ocean. The remaining two communities - the Dunes, one- and two-family homes, and the Tides, luxurious beach condos - are in the beginning stages of production.
“The buyers are absolutely in love with it,” Sporny said. “I don’t think there’s anywhere else you can go that can compare to something as magical as this.”
Janet Lindell, for instance, moved from Sea Cliff in Long Island, where she had a large home, to Palmer’s Landing. Her brother, an Ozone Park resident, joined her. “I downsized,” she said. “When I saw this property become available in 2004, I thought it would be a good investment.”
And now? “I made a very good investment,” she said. “I’m very happy. I like it. It’s a brand new house, it’s spacious; it has as many bathrooms as my old house.”
Then there is the issue of taxes, or lack thereof. Among the three reasons, Sporny believes the neighborhood has become so popular so quick, is an attractive 20-year tax abatement plan for residents which states, because the homes are on underdeveloped land, they pay just a little over $6,000 a year. “I bought at the right time,” Lindell said.
Throw in the waterfront property and income-producing apartments - certain homeowners can rent up to three bedrooms - while still owning two of their own - to help pay for their mortgage. “It’s a good start for people who want to branch out but can’t really afford it,” Lindell said.
