Baldwin Beach Club Property Cleared For Demolition As Neighbors Wonder What Comes Next

HEMPSTEAD, NY — The Town of Hempstead authorized the demolition of an abandoned building at the old Oakwood Beach Club in Baldwin Tuesday. In public comments, the neighbors who live near the abandoned beach club had one question on their mind: What comes next?

The first item on Tuesday's agenda was a public hearing on a petition from Deputy Commissioner of Buildings Daniel Leo. In that petition, Leo sought to have the town declare the property — located at 8 Milburn Ave., Baldwin — unsafe, dangerous, a fire hazard and a public nuisance.

Subscribe

Furthermore, Leo's petition sought clearance for the building department to demolish and remove the one-story building that currently stands at the property, as well as "all litter and debris" that currently sits on the property.

Town Supervisor John Ferretti said there are currently issues with graffiti and rodents at the property, issues that the town would seek to mitigate through the demolition efforts.

In their public comments Tuesday, Baldwin Harbor residents asked the town what happens after the demolition.

"I'm kind of disappointed to be here today and learn that the only plans you have for that abandoned property is to demolish the building," Milburn Avenue resident Barbara Steyer said. "What about the parking lot? What about restoring the property? Maintaining the property? What about flood mitigation in that particular area there? I assume there won't be any access, so what kind of fence is being put up? And what is being done to secure the property from people going in there?"

According to Leo, there are no applications before the town to do any work at the beach club site.

"Currently, there's no plan; the town doesn't own the property," Leo said. "The town has deemed it a dangerous building, so we're going to take it down and assess the cost to the owner of the property."

Per Leo's petition, the property is owned by 8 Milburn Avenue, LLC, a corporation headquartered in Kings Point. State records show 8 Milburn was incorporated in 2017, and has not filed any statements with the state since 2019. There is no chief executive officer listed for the corporation on state records.

According to Leo, there are "significant issues" with the property "with regard to tax liens, and things like that." In the past, Leo said, there were discussions of turning the waterfront property into a park, but the idea never got off the ground.

"I don't think the town has decided to do that, it's always an option of the county," Leo said.

Speaking after Steyer was Mildred Drive resident Rita Montemali, who said she had lived on the block for 38 years. Montemali told the town board she was concerned about poor sanitation at the abandoned property, and the potential impacts it could have on the health in the neighborhood.

"I am disappointed, as well...the pool [on the property] was infested with mosquitoes, which means we have mosquitoes in our back yard," Montemali said. "What I'm concerned [with] right now is the sanitary aspect, the health. I called the Department of Health, and finally the town did come and close the pool…but the property, like the lady said before, looks just terrible. It really does."

Town officials said county law requires the service of an exterminator whenever a building is demolished, and that one would be enlisted at the demolition.

"The town is going to make sure the building is taken down in a proper manner, and address a lot of the concerns," a town official said.

Joining Montemali and Steyer in public comments Tuesday was Lesley Martin, who said she had moved to the neighborhood in 2011, shortly after the beach club closed.

"For the most part, it has been kind of a non-event, but sometimes you have people pulling up to the beach club on boats, climbing over the fence, writing graffiti, having fires on the beach, and it's just dangerous," Martin said. "The property is dangerous."

According to Martin, who said she lives next door to the old beach club property, efforts to bring the beach club property into public ownership have failed to get off the ground, "because it's too costly to remove the pool. For some reason, the pool must come out…But, because nobody's willing to pay for the property, it's not sellable because it's not buildable. It just sits there and festers. When I say 'festers,' I sit in my back yard and I can see the rats crawling under the fence into my back yard."

"I can't answer as to why a pool would impede a real estate transaction," Ferretti said.

Finally, there was Marabelle Ellis, a five-year Baldwin Harbor resident. In her time at the podium, Ellis said she and some of her neighbors hoped the dream of turning the old beach club into a public space could become reality.

"What I'd like to do is suggest that the town explore negotiations to acquire the property, convert it into some sort of safe public space, if that is possible, that would benefit the community, Baldwin Harbor residents, purchasing it and looking at it as a safety intervention to create some necessary protective barrier," Ellis said. "As a resident, as a mother, I'm also very concerned about making it of public use…I don't understand how something could just sit there for so long."

Ellis called the potential, continued abandonment of the beach club a "complete loss," saying the current state of the property is "an eyesore."

After public comment, the town voted unanimously to authorize the demolition of the building at 8 Milburn Ave.

While her neighbors called it "dangerous" and "an eyesore," Montemali said it was a reminder of the Baldwin Harbor she moved into almost four decades ago.

"Baldwin Harbor used to be [a] top area, really. I moved there 38 years ago, I loved the area, it's a quiet area," Montemali said. "We still have mosquitoes, we still have the rats, we have the mice, and that's my concern right now. What will be done after the building is demolished?"