A look back at 2024’s biggest stories in Long Island real estate

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Three years removed from some of the lowest interest rates in history, 2024 presented a challenging business environment as rising rates eclipsed 7 percent and spent much of the year near that mark.

The higher rates impacted the residential real estate market, as 2024 continued the swoon that permeated the industry over the last two years, with low inventory fueling higher home prices and keeping the number of home sales down.

But despite the obstacles, 2024 had plenty of highlights. Long Island saw progress on some major development projects and some big deals in commercial real estate and the retail sector, reflecting resilience and confidence in the area’s economy.

As always, LIBN covered it all, reporting on some of the biggest business stories of the year, many of which were exclusive to the publication.

Two years into one of Long Island’s largest repurposing projects, an 87-acre portion of the former Central Islip campus of New York Institute of Technology continued to be transformed into a spacious mixed-use community by a partnership of Bethpage-based Steel Equities and the Farmingdale-based Marcus Organization. The developers cut the ribbon on the first phase of the $300 million project called The Belmont at Eastview, which included 364 apartments and the community’s new 18,000-square-foot clubhouse.

The recently started phase two of the project will bring an additional 281 rental apartments and 81 for-sale condominiums for people aged 55 and over, about 55,000 square feet of new retail space anchored by an 18,000-square-foot grocery store to be located along Carleton Avenue, a new three-story, 40,000-square-foot medical office building and more.

LIBN was first to report about another major Long Island redevelopment, as the new ownership group that acquired the Broadway Commons mall in Hicksville plans to transform the shopping complex into an open-air lifestyle center called The Shoppes on Broadway.

The $100 million-plus project will include demolition of the long-shuttered 300,000-square-foot Macy’s store, which is expected to happen in Q3 2025. In addition, about 100,000 square feet of the mall’s interior will be demolished as part of the plan to turn the mall inside out. A new 105,000-square-foot big-box store, to be occupied by a BJs Wholesale Club, will also include gasoline service and electric vehicle charging stations. One of the centerpieces of the redevelopment will be 70,000 square feet of restaurant and entertainment tenants to be called The District, which will feature a roof-top event space and a huge LED screen with which guests can watch movies and sporting events.

In another exclusive, LIBN broke the story that Target will be opening a new store on the East End, replacing the country’s last full-size Kmart. The Minneapolis-based retailer will take over the 89,935-square-foot space in the Bridgehampton Commons shopping center at 2044 Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton, which Kmart closed in October.

The Kmart in Bridgehampton was the brand’s last remaining full-size store in the continental U.S., though a small-sized Kmart in Miami remains open. Kmart also still operates a few smaller stores in Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The new Target in Bridgehampton, which still has to go through the permitting process, likely won’t open until late next year or early 2026.

LIBN was also first to report about another retail takeover as Ready Coffee, a growing Hudson Valley-based coffee chain, bought 10 former Dairy Barn locations on Long Island. Ready Coffee, a drive-thru coffee shop that offers an assortment of coffees, teas, energy drinks, shakes and smoothies, purchased nine former Dairy Barn properties in Nassau County and one in Suffolk County for a little more than $9 million. The first Long Island Ready Coffee opened in Baldwin and two more locations, in Glen Cove and Lynbrook, are slated to open soon.

Another LIBN first to report was plans for a major redevelopment of a well-known Long Island office property. The Christian Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which bought the former GEICO property in Woodbury for $27 million in Dec. 2022, intends to spend at least another $23 million to build an assembly hall and two support buildings on about half of the site.

The development plans include construction of a 52,400-square-foot assembly hall, a 3,900-square-foot maintenance building and a 2,500-square-foot residence on about 9.74 acres on the southern portion of the 20-acre property at 750 Woodbury Road, according to the organization’s site plan application to the town. The Wallkill, N.Y.-based religious organization is also selling a 10.23-acre parcel of the site that fronts Woodbury Road.

This past year also saw a few development-related lawsuits, including one LIBN was first to report that was filed by former New York Islander and NHL Hall of Famer Patrick LaFontaine and business partner Steve D’Iorio after getting iced-out of the proposed $3 billion public/private project known as Midway Crossing. The lawsuit against two executives of JLL, the proposed project’s master developer, claimed the execs received “unjust enrichment” and sought restitution for services that LaFontaine and D’Iorio performed on the project.

LaFontaine and his Tide Line LLC are seeking a judgment of more than $1.3 million and D’Iorio is seeking more than $1.07 million, according to the lawsuit.

In another long-running dispute involving a major Long Island development, LIBN exclusively reported that the developers of the $1.3 billion project at Belmont Park, which so far includes a new arena for the Islanders, a 340,000-square-foot retail village and six-story parking garage, have been given a six-month extension to keep their promise of building a community center for Elmont.

The agreement between Empire State Development and New York Arena Partners gave the development group five years to deliver the promised 10,000-square-foot community space or pay a penalty of $5 million to ESD.

While the five-year deadline passed in November, ESD gave the developers six more months, and said that NYAP, a partnership of the Scott Malkin Group, Sterling Equities and Oak View Group, has recently identified a property and is currently finalizing its feasibility analysis of the Elmont site in advance of building the promised community center.

State Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages, who has been pushing to get the community facility built, said negotiations between NYAP, ESD and local officials are progressing and “everyone truly wants to get this done.”