Garvies Point

Help stop the high-traffic housing development at Garvies Point in Glen Cove.

25 Minutes from Garvies Point to the LIE

By

As we witness the scale of Garvies Point come into focus – building after pre-fab building being thrown up in this highly polluted flood plain, we find ourselves asking: who wants to live here?

Not that there’s anything wrong with Glen Cove or the North Shore of Long Island, of course. But from a commuter’s point of view, Glen Cove is not an ideal place to live.

Even in the best of times, the trip down to the LIE from Garvies Point is 22 minutes according to Google Maps. But during rush hour? The drive around 8 or 9AM or back up after 5PM will easily take someone over 30 minutes, on a good day.

Traveling West from Garvies Point

Of course if you’re heading West, you need to cross Glen Cove Road and Northern Blvd – the intersection rated “most congested” anywhere on Long Island. Getting across this stoplight alone can easily tack 15 minutes on any drive to or from Garvies Point. (btw – all Long Islanders should know that RXR’s ingenious solution to traffic at this intersection, which decimates our quality of life, was to plant more trees. We can’t even make this stuff up…)

Traveling East from Garvies Point

If you’re heading East, you can enjoy the long, hard slog down single-lane Route 107, and all the way down to Jericho to get on the LIE. Slow car or big truck in front of you on 107? Well, you’ll just have to wait, as Brookville residents have ensured this artery will never be made into four lanes. And we should mention the local polices forces of these wealthy hamlets love to boost their towns’ revenue by setting up speed traps. So watch out!

I’ll just take the Glen Cove Ferry!

uhmm – what ferry? Despite what sales reps at the Garvies Point “Welcome Center” may have told you, there is still no ferry service planned to operate from Garvies Point. In fact, Glen Cove just pushed back another meeting on the subject.

The fact remains no ferry operator wants the route from Glen Cove to NYC, as it is not, and likely will never will be, profitable. Last year, during LIRR track maintenance a FREE ferry was provided by the LIRR. Even this free-of-charge ferry service was way below expected capacity. We’re talking 20 or so riders a day.

So what will a monthly ferry pass cost Long Islanders? I’ve heard $20 to even $40 per day to make this route feasible. Ouch! And even if all of this does come to pass, commuters still have to make their way from the Bronx or East River to Midtown or Downtown Manhattan.

Finally, don’t forget, even if inept Glen Cove somehow manages to coax a ferry service into Garvies Point, the Sound often gets very rough in Fall and Winter. This is not necessarily the calm, taciturn commute of an artist’s rendering.

Ok, I’ll take the Long Island Railroad from Garvies Point

Sounds good. Of course, you’ll still have to drive. This is because, as many of us who questioned the wisdom of this development from the beginning often pointed out, Garvies Point is nowhere near any LIRR train station. In other words, this is not so-called smart development.

The closest station is Glen Street, but of course parking is already over capacity, so good luck parking there. Sea Cliff Station? Also over capacity. Glen Cove Station? Parking is a little bit better there, though now you’re adding another 10 minutes on your commute each way.

But wait, you say, since Garvies Point “high density” housing is so gigantic, maybe they’ll be some type of shuttle service to the LIRR station? Maybe, though plans (or a budget) for such a service have yet to be announced. You can be sure RXR ain’t paying for it! And if such a service does somehow appear, well, what happens if your train is late? Or you need to work late? Or you miss it? Is this really any kind of convenience?

And of course most LIRR trains on this line require a transfer at Jamaica Station in Queens, which is always fun in the dead of winter.

An imagined LIRR Commute from Garvies Point

Leave Garvies Point Condo -> Walk to Shuttle Bus -> Wait -> Board Shuttle Bus -> Trip to LIRR station -> Board First Train -> Transfer at Jamaica to second train -> Commute from Penn Station to office

Count me out.

RXR’s Amazon Debacle at Garvies Point

By

This just in…

It turns out all of the “75% sold!” messaging we’ve been hearing from the PR flacks at RXR had foolishly put all of their sales in one basket. It appears that statistic was based on a potential deal with Amazon.com – where employees at their new second headquarters in Long Island City, Queens were to reside at toxic Garvies Point.

Of course we all know what happened to that deal. Amazon is gone, and with it so are all of the “sales” at the beacon at Garvies Point. Now I know what you’re saying to yourself:

Surly RXR Realty, with all of its might and business acumen and foresight wouldn’t count on just one potential buyer to sell-off all of the cookie-cutter condos rising up over the toxic land they’re building on (Free toxic monitoring wells included!).

Surly the City of Glen Cove, in dire financial straits and near junk-bond status wouldn’t count on just one potential buyer to sell-off all of the cookie-cutter condos rising up over the toxic land they’re building on.

Oops.

Enjoy the smell of sewage treatment at “luxury” Garvies Point Beacon

By

“Artisan”, “Curated”, “Bespoke”, “Luxury”… there isn’t an adjective that shameless marketers won’t belittle and destroy.

garvies point sewageThat’s what ran through my head as I eyed the shameless marketing materials for the luxury condos now rising from the toxic soil at Garvies Point. What made me question the adjectives selected to market RXR’s boondoggle?  Thanks for asking 🙂  Why it was the powerful, relentless odor of raw sewage wafting all across the construction zone.

Funny that the greed-over-people realtors at the Garvies Point “Welcome Center,” never seem to mention that the site is literally a stone’s throw from one of the largest sewage treatment centers in Nassau County.

Did a realtor tell you the plant was “small” or “may be shut down soon.” Lies of desperation as usual. In fact, the County’s own Wastewater Management Program says:

This plant is permitted for 5.5 mgd and has been recently upgraded to meet the requirements associated with protecting the Long Island Sound from hypoxia or low dissolved oxygen. This plant  currently treats approximately 3 mgd, leaving a surplus capacity of over 2.5 mgd – which could be used to sewer some of the communities in the North Shore that are currently served by cesspools.

So, in truth the amount of sewage funneled over to Garvies Point – and the wonderful aromas that come with it – will likely almost double in the coming years.

So not only will Garvies Point residents be living atop incredibly toxic land of two Superfund and multiple brownfield sites, but the very air they breathe will be filled with microscopic particles of human waste. Stake your claim today!

NY Times cites “Risky Waterfront Building in Flood Zones”

By

A new article in the New York Times talks about New York developers heedlessly building large developments in designated flood zones.

Rather than retreating from flood-prone neighborhoods after Hurricane Sandy, some developers are wading deeper into waterfront markets

The development at Garvies Point is a prime example. Many “luxury” condo buyers do not even know that much of the land at Garvies Point is also a designated flood zone, as we’ve mentioned before on this blog! Prospects who visit the new “Garvies Point Welcome Center” are promised all the amenities (which the developer in an unethical about-face has made residents pay for via a shaky bond), such as kayakers happily rowing about in clean waters, mothers happily pushing strollers, and so on.

No one is warned about the high potential of the land and its residences flooding. RXR obfuscates this important point (as they do with toxic runoff, vapor barriers, traffic & congestion, the shaky Glen Cove bond and so much more) all in the name of profit for themselves and their billionaire Chinese investors.

Will Garvies Point condo owners be able to secure flood insurance at a reasonable cost after the first flood? Highly doubtful.

So go ahead and invest in a Garvies Point condo – but don’t say you weren’t warned!

Garvies Point Flood

 

 

 

 

 

Garvies Point after Hurricane Donna

Shaky Financing at Garvies Point development

By

Many North Shore residents found RXR’s complete reversal of their years-old promise to finance all of the amenities promised at Garvies Point rather appalling. I know I did. Worse, yet, was how rushed the new $100 million in debt G;len Cove residents were forced to take on to allow the project to move forward.
 

Most Nassau County Legislators voted ‘yes’ on the bond under political pressure – not really understanding what this bond was or what is at stake for New York State’s “most fiscally stressed city” [NYS Comptroller diNapoli]. In fact, the Nassau LEG – including current County Executive Laura Curran – was quite derelict in their responsibilities with such a quick, blind ‘yes’ vote.
 

It’s interesting to note: after voting yes, Ms. Curran then went on to select two RXR executives to serve on her “transition team,” which makes one wonder just who she is working for.
 

But anyway, want an example of how rushed this financing was? When the City of Glen Cove held a quick public hearing on this enormous bond, the development’s lead counsel, Michael Zarin, wasn’t even able to adequately answer the question: “who is responsible in the event of default on this bond?” wow. (Read more on this here)
 

So unlike Glen Cove, former GC Mayor Spinello or the entire Nassau County Legislature, we took the bond to our own outside expert for an opinion. Here is what she had to say:
 

This seems to be a very shaky project based on the Plan of Finance on p.44.  All the funding to complete all phases of the project is not yet in place.  The structure of the bonds shows that Phase I is even a stretch – only a small portion of the deal is structured as current interest bonds.  The rest is capital appreciation bonds.  Typically capital appreciation bonds are used when you don’t have enough debt service coverage to pay for current interest bonds.  It is a way to squeeze more initial bond proceeds out of the deal.

 

Payback of the bonds depends totally on the real-estate market around the time the units are ready for sale.  You can’t assess best and worst case repayment scenarios unless you know how good the underlying assumptions are for the sale of units.  A big risk here is that they will never come up with the money needed to complete all phases of the project and that could lower the value of units in the first phase of the project.  This would throw off all the repayment projections.

 

Now I don’t know much bout real estate development bonds, but it doesn’t take a financial wizard to see that this $100 million now on the backs of Glen Cove residents – was rushed through with little transparency and barely any meaningful deliberation. County Executive Curran will be held accountable if this doesn’t pan out (trust us), but what about condo buyers?? Are you willing to take so much risk and purchase a condo at Gravies Point?

Garvies Point Recent News