The Village of Great Neck Housing Authority has selected affordable housing developer Georgica Green Ventures to complete a $49 million renovation of a 75-unit apartment building, where federal housing inspectors previously identified safety hazards to residents.
Glen Cove-based Georgica Green, which has renovated other developments run by public housing authorities in Nassau County, would lease the property from the housing authority through the newly formed Great Neck Residences LLC. The parties shared the plan in documents submitted to the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency as part of an application to receive tax benefits.
“Great Neck housing authority has teamed up and asked Georgica Green to come in with their expertise and track record and figure out how to renovate,” said Daniel Deegan, a partner at law firm Forchelli Deegan Terrana, who represented the LLC at a Nov. 20 meeting of the Nassau IDA.
The building, built in 1983, is in “tremendous need of overhaul,” Deegan told the IDA.
The Great Neck building failed two straight federal housing inspections in 2022 and 2024, Newsday previously reported. Housing inspectors described glue traps filled with roaches in one apartment’s bathroom and said they observed “high levels” levels of mold in a bathroom ceiling.
Janice Sotero, executive director of the Great Neck Village Housing Authority, told Newsday last year that her agency began sending monthly updates to the Department of Housing and Urban Development regarding its corrective action plan.
This April, the Great Neck building received a passing grade of 86 on its federal inspection, up from 59 a year earlier, according to federal data.
Sotero did not respond to Newsday’s request for comment on the selection of Georgica Green on Tuesday.
‘Needs to be gutted’
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has deemed the building obsolete, and the renovations will include all new electrical, plumbing, septic and fire prevention systems, David Gallo, Georgica Green’s co-founder and president said in an interview.
“Everything needs to be gutted and redone from scratch,” he said.
The project would allow the housing authority and Georgica Green to preserve units for low-income renters in an area where it would be extremely difficult to create new affordable housing, Gallo said.
If the building’s location, adjacent to Village Green Park, were vacant land, it would likely have been purchased by a luxury housing developer, Gallo said.
“We need to hang on to housing like this in areas like this and preserve them,” he said.
Last month, the Nassau County IDA advanced the project’s application for a 30-year payment in lieu of taxes agreement. The preliminary approval allows the IDA’s staff to perform due diligence on the application and negotiate a potential agreement, Nassau IDA attorney Paul O’Brien said at the meeting.
The Nassau IDA had yet to determine how much Georgica Green Ventures would owe in PILOT payments as of its November meeting and must grant the project final approval before it can move forward.
The housing authority currently pays the village only $1,600 annually through a payment in lieu of taxes agreement, according to village budget documents. The building is exempt from other property taxes, Deegan said.
Deegan told the IDA board the developer needed to receive approval for a PILOT to apply for state affordable housing funding and tax credits early next year.
If it receives approval, Georgica Green could start construction in March and finish the renovation in about 27 months.
During that time, the developer would temporarily relocate residents to other available units in the building while it completes work in clusters of about a dozen units at a time.
“There will be no displacement of anybody,” Deegan told the IDA.
Other Georgica Green projects to rehabilitate public housing include its work on the Pond View Homes in Manhasset in 2017 and the Laurel Homes in 2023 for the North Hempstead Housing Authority.
Newsday’s Joshua Solomon contributed to this story.
Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain’s New York Business.