Hearing Set For Expanded Hotel Plan

Developers plan to use the Old Huntington Town Hall building at the corner of Main Street and Stewart Avenue in Huntington village in an 80-room hotel. Long islander news photo/Connor Beach

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

New plans to turn the historic Old Town Hall building in Huntington village into a boutique hotel call for as many as 80 rooms up from 55 in previous renditions of the proposal.

The Huntington town board last month scheduled a public hearing in June to consider including in an existing Historic Building Overlay zoning district a parcel on land east of the Old Town Hall on the corner of Main Street and Stewart Avenue in Huntington village. The property was recently included in plans for the proposed hotel by Holtsville-based developer Huntington Village Hotel Partners.

The Historic Building Overlay District is designed to help preserve buildings of historic significance by giving owners of these properties the ability to use them in “purposes other than those permitted as-of-right in the zoning districts where such buildings are located,” according to town code.

Plans for the hotel were originally submitted to the town in 2013 by developer Emerson J. Dobbs through Huntington-based Old Town Hall Operating Co. Those plans were approved and called for the existing two-and-a-half-story structure to be preserved as the hotel’s lobby, lounge and meeting rooms. A 55-room guest wing was planned for the rear of the building.

The town approved Dobb’s plans, but he did not obtain a valid building permit in connection with the project before the imposed five-year deadline, according to town documents.

Seen from the back, the old town hall building is fenced while the developer’s plans advance. Long islander News photo/Connor Beach

Town documents show the new plans submitted by Huntington Village Hotel Partners, the company Dobbs is in talks with to sell the property, include the 1,742-square-foot property just east of the Old Town Hall building. The plans would require the demolition of the building next to the Old Town Hall that previously served as the town’s jail and police building.

Huntington Village Hotel Partners’ plan would still maintain the historic Town Hall building as the hotel’s lobby and common space. Parking for the hotel would be housed under the 80-room guest wing in the rear of the property.

Huntington Village Hotel Partners could not be reached for comment.

Huntington Supervisor Chad Lupinacci, who sponsored the resolution for the public hearing, said the proposed hotel would “bring renewed life to this historic landmark, preserving Huntington’s history and boosting our downtown economy.”

“Huntington village has always been a destination and the idea of a boutique hotel that pays homage to the building’s past life as the former Town Hall will achieve those goals while bringing the added convenience and comfort of an overnight stay,” Lupinacci said.

The public hearing to expand the Historic Building Overlay District is scheduled for 7 p.m., June 18 at town hall.

14 Apartments Planned Near Train Station

Plans submitted by developer Grant Havasy call for the construction of a mixed-use apartment building next to this existing building on the corner of New York Avenue and Northridge Street in Huntington Station.

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

A developer is looking to construct a 14-unit apartment building on the corner of Northridge Street and New York Avenue near the Huntington train station.

Plans submitted to the Huntington planning department show Huntington-based developer Grant Havasy is looking to construct a 12,481-square-foot, mixed-use building with 14 apartments on the second and third floors.

The property for the proposed building is across Northridge Street from the Northridge building, the first phase of Renaissance Downtowns’ Huntington Station revitalization project, and directly adjacent to an existing two-story building with nine-apartments, which is also owned by Havasy.

The proposed 14-unit building is not part of the Renaissance Downtowns master development project.

Havasy is managing partner of Blue and Gold Holdings, the company responsible for constructing the Northridge building. Havasy’s Woodbury-based attorney Thomas Abbate said at last week’s planning board meeting the Northridge building is “virtually the only structure that has been erected as part of the Huntington Station revitalization.”

Plans show the new apartment building would include 2,985 square feet of commercial space on the first floor. The second and third floors would share a combined 9,496 square feet of residential space.

Planning officials said at last week’s meeting plans call for a “mezzanine area” below the second and third floors that would hold 12 parking spaces. The steep slope from the rear of the property towards New York Avenue would make the mezzanine parking area possible, planning officials said.

Plans call for an additional outdoor 14-space parking lot behind the building.

Abbate said the design of the building “complies with all respects of the off-street parking requirement” in the C-6 zoning district by providing all parking for the building on-site.

Planning officials said the proposal would require a number of variances from the Huntington Zoning Board of Appeals, including for the proposed indoor parking lot and because the second and third floor residential areas are larger than the footprint of the commercial space on the ground floor.

Abbate said at the meeting he would also need to convince the ZBA that the parking mezzanine does not make the building four stories.

The application was not listed on the May 2 ZBA agenda as of deadline Wednesday. The next ZBA meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., May 9 at town hall.

Mount Misery Road-Inspired Movie Release Set

Directors and actors Chuck and Karolina Morrongiello bring the legends of Mount Misery Road to life in the new horror film “Amityville: Mt. Misery Road,” set for nationwide release on May 7.

By Sophia Ricco
sricco@longislandergroup.com

The myths of Mount Misery road are making their film debut in an independent thriller based on the history and legends of West Hills’ woods.

Generations can recall hearing stories of a Hellhound, Mothman and an asylum patient named Mary stalking through the woods at night. Some have even braved journeying the woods themselves.

 “Amityville: Mt. Misery Road” has all the frightening elements to raise goosebumps and leave audiences cringing. But this horror flick is based on history.

“I grew up in this area and had always heard about Mount Misery Road,” Chuck Morrongiello said. “The other day, we were at a local get-together and heard grandparents talking about it. Then their kids discussed it and even their grandchildren knew about it.”

In the film, the Morrongiello and his wife Karolina play the parts of Floridian ghost-enthusiasts Charlie and Buzi who are intrigued when a friend captures images of floating orbs. Eager to get spooked, they venture into the woods and find much more than they anticipated.

“It was called a ‘love romp’,” Chuck said. “It’s a romp of a couple that’s just in love, we’re happy, shiny, and full of this energy. And we don’t really what about what’s going happen.”

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“Amityville: Mt. Misery Road” will be released nationwide by ITN Film Distribution on May 7.

Filmed on location with the woods providing an eerie backdrop, “the movie is gloomy, dark, and it feels spooky,” Karolina said. “It’s fiction, but the road and there being legends about it are true.”

“We’re excited about this movie, we think it’s gonna be a homerun,” Chuck said. “We got a great distributor behind us.”

“Amityville: Mt. Misery Road” will be released nationwide by ITN Film Distribution on May 7, available on DVD at Walmart.