Business & Tech

Development Corp. Looks to Beautify Douglaston

Group Achieves Not-for-Profit Status, Seeks Tax Exemption from State

The Douglaston Local Development Corporation will seek federal tax exemption status after having been approved by the state as a not-for-profit, the group's president said.

The development corporation is an outgrowth of a project known as the "visioning committee" that was undertaken by the Douglaston Little Neck Historical Society last year. Under that initiative, community leaders bounced around ideas to upgrade the Douglaston Village shopping district.

Now, the corporation has received its charter from the state and is in the process of filing with the Internal Revenue Service to be tax exempt.

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"We're putting together a master plan, which would fix houses and areas around the Long Island Rail Road station," said David Pentlow, the recently appointed president of the development corporation. "We're not just focusing on the buildings owned by landlords, but also the parkland near the rail road tracks and the bay."

Pentlow said the corporation's planned upgrades for the community would include a mixture of public and private space.

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The historical society's visioning committee had originally been aimed at refurbishing the signs of stores in Douglaston Village that had become worn as well as patching up cracked sidewalks.

The local development corporation will be made up of the leaders of several groups, such as the historical society, the Douglaston Village Chamber of Commerce and several civic organizations.

"Hopefully, we will have some influence over the commercial district," said the historical society's Kevin Wolfe. "It's a different attitude toward preservation. The commercial district is pretty moribund. So, I think this is pretty exciting. Douglaston does not have anything quite like it."

Pentlow, an attorney, helped to set up the neighborhood's chamber of commerce and completed all legal work for the local development corporation.

After filing with the IRS, the group will focus on "neighborhood beautification" projects such as planting near the LIRR's tracks and upgrades to businesses along 235th Street in Douglaston Village.

"The people in the community want it to look more consistent with the historical character of the area and not have cinder block buildings with parking lots," he said.

But the group would need to get the consent of individual building owners in the village. Pentlow said the initiative could eventually lead to new construction.

"Nothing has been set in stone," he said. "One idea has been to make some of the buildings north of the tracks into mixed-use buildings that have businesses on the ground floor but with apartments above. Some businesses in the neighborhood have expressed interest in a new bakery or a book store. People want a vibrant retail scene."

He said the development corporation planned to host small events in the community in December.


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