Town takes title to motel

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BY DENISE M. BONILLA
STAFF WRITER

June 2, 2005

Town of Hempstead officials announced Wednesday that they now hold title to the Oceanside Motel and will move forward with plans to demolish the structure and build a municipal parking lot in its place, ending years of battles over the troubled motel.

Oceanside residents cheered the news and said the motel has been a scourge on the community for decades. Garbage, loud noise and crime surround the building, they said, and police are frequently called to the scene for drug and prostitution arrests.

The two-story motel, which advertises water beds and mirror rooms, sits on an acre of land on busy Long Beach Road. The property abuts houses on Harrison Avenue.

LoriAnn Reilly, 42, who lives on Harrison, said she does not allow her two children to go near the motel. Garbage and discarded hypodermic needles littered the front of her house, she said.

"This is the happiest day of my life," Reilly said. "It's really gonna happen. It's over."

Julia Nasso, 77, has lived next door to the motel since it was built in 1962. She said there were no problems at first, but over the years, she has come to feel like a prisoner in her own house. "It's uncomfortable to go out in the backyard, with the people, the loud music," Nasso said.

Residents credit Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilman Anthony Santino with listening to their complaints and helping facilitate the process.

"This really marks the end of an era for Oceanside residents," Murray said. "Families shouldn't have to tolerate this type of business."

Santino said the motel, which stands "at the gate to Oceanside," gave the community the wrong image. "It's not the kind of place you want to take your wife and kids on family vacation," Santino said.

Bharat Bhatt, 60, who shares ownership of the motel with his brother-in-law, Arvind Joshi, said the condemnation of the hotel is no more than election-year politics. He said crime is a hot-button issue and officials are using it to single his business out. He said he has tried to improve security but that Joshi, who is paralyzed and has a son with muscular dystrophy, has not been able to invest in motel improvements because of medical bills.

Bhatt said he bought the property for $1.6 million in 1990 and pays $84,000 a year in property taxes. Although he would not name a specific price, he said the town's appraised value of $1.5 million is not enough for him to start a new motel. "If they want to take the property, take it," Bhatt said. "Give me the fair market value and take it."

State Supreme Court Justice Edward McCabe signed the order of condemnation last week. The ensuing battle over the price tag of the motel could take years, officials said. But now that the town holds the title, it can move forward with having the building torn down. Santino promised that by August the motel "will become a pile of rubble."

Santino said the town tried to pursue the motel's closure through the town's public nuisance law, which was enacted in 2000, but that condemnation was "the only way to achieve what we wanted to with certainty."

The town also had to ascertain whether residents would be willing to shell out the money needed to wreck the building and build the parking lot. The estimated cost of building the lot is $300,000, Murray said. Last June the town authorized bonding of up to $3.5 million for the project.