Row of Stores Could be 'Fifth Avenue' of Hewlett

An entire row of nine stores, right across from the Hewlett train station, are available for rent in a building that is also home to and a convenience store.

“It’s a really good location,” said Sherri Slockowsky, the listing agent from . “With the train station, there’s plenty of foot traffic from commuters coming and going all day. Plus, there’s plenty of municipal parking across the street.”

The vacancies, located at 31 Franklin Ave., are about 1,000 square feet each. The owner was originally asking for monthly rent of about $2,400 to $2,500, but is now quite flexible with those figures. Each unit can be rented separately or as a block of two or more stores.

“I think they are best suited for medical, financial or insurance offices,” Slockowsky said. “Although, certain types of retail stores would do well there too.”

Andrew’s Property Services, the management company, took over the building about seven years ago. It helped turn what was basically a large old warehouse into a brand new group of 11 separate stores. Several of the spaces have storage attics and each one has its own air conditioning unit.

“The owner’s idea was to create a Fifth Avenue-type of project,” said Scott Santana, of Andrew’s Property Services. "We completely gutted the place and updated the whole thing. He did it in Cedarhurst, and it worked very well."

Vassa Halatas, owner of and vice president of the Hewlett-Woodmere Business Association, is looking forward to having new tenants move into those spaces.

“We are hoping that long-term stores will come in there that will promote foot traffic and add something nice to the community in the daytime and the nighttime,” she said.

The building owner is currently in litigation with Joseph Christopher, a beauty salon in Long Beach that signed a lease about a year ago to take over all nine spaces. According to Santana, the lease agreement allowed the tenant to move into the building rent-free in the fall and then start paying rent at the beginning of the year. This deal brought the properties off the market for some time.

The owners of Joseph Christopher did not respond to several requests for comment.

Many businesses have come and gone in this location over the years, including the (LIGA), which utilized a large portion of the building for many years.

According to LIGA owner, Lucy Goetz, a lack of abundant parking and being adjacent to Independent Bus Company were the primary reasons she and her mother moved the business to Cedarhurst about 15 years ago.