A $100 million apartment complex is headed for a 1.92-acre lot beside the Westbury Long Island Rail Road station, after the Village of Westbury's board of trustees signed off on Gotham Organization's five-story, mixed-use plan. The project would bring 184 apartments, 254 parking spaces, a public plaza and more than 15,000 square feet of ground-floor retail to a site that once served as a surface parking lot for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The MTA describes the site, bounded by Railroad and Post Avenues, as a former surface lot it is advancing for transit-oriented development, according to the MTA. The agency freed up the south-side parcel after completing a $23 million, 683-space parking garage on the north side of the station in August 2021, as reported by railway.supply. Village trustees voted unanimously to approve the development after a public hearing, according to the Long Island Press, though railway.supply has separately reported that the project remains subject to Village of Westbury approval.
What's Actually Getting Built
As first detailed by New York YIMBY, the design calls for a collection-of-separate-buildings appearance with facades of red brick in varying shades, window arrangements featuring Juliet balconies, and setback and cutout terraces on the upper floors. Ten percent of the apartments would be income-restricted and offered at reduced rents, per the same outlet's reporting. Amenities are set to include a lobby, fitness center, roof terrace with barbecue grills, a multi-sport simulator, a resident lounge and coworking space, as outlined by Long Island Business News in its coverage of the project.
Gotham faces a March 2027 deadline to apply for new building permits but intends to submit sooner, per New York YIMBY's reporting, with groundbreaking targeted for spring 2027. Once construction begins, the project is expected to take about 20 months, a timeline reported by Long Island Business News, with completion anticipated around the end of 2028, according to New York YIMBY.
Earlier Numbers Don't Match the Current Plan
The project's footprint has shifted over time. An earlier version of Gotham's proposal called for 157 apartments and 276 parking spaces, figures that appeared in Long Island Business News' December reporting on the development. Later reporting from railway.supply instead describes the current plan as 184 apartments, 254 parking spaces and 15,000 square feet of retail space — the numbers reflected in the village's recent approval.
A Deal Years in the Making
The arrangement is structured as a 99-year ground lease between Gotham and the MTA, with the agency saying such leases generate recurring revenue for transit investments while keeping the land in public ownership. Under the proposed terms, Gotham would pay $2.25 million during construction, a $500,000 capital transaction payment, and base rent starting at $500,000 that rises 12.5 percent every five years, according to railway.supply.
Westbury amended its zoning resolution back in 2019 to create a transit-oriented-development district around the LIRR station, according to the MTA's 2020 announcement, which also noted the agency issued its request for proposals for the site on September 16, 2020. That solicitation said the development could include mixed-use multifamily residential space, public open space, and retail or commercial elements. The MTA had initially awarded the project to Boca Raton-based Mill Creek Residential Trust in 2022, but Mill Creek withdrew because of rising costs, Long Island Business News reported. Mill Creek's earlier pitch had envisioned a larger 250-unit, 255,000-square-foot complex with a first-year lease payment of $650,000, or a fallback 200-unit version at $610,000 a year, according to Newsday's 2022 coverage of the solicitation process. That earlier process also required the developer to complete environmental quality review and secure approval from both the MTA and LIRR boards before moving into design.
Part of a Broader Building Boom Near the Station
Gotham's project would mark the MTA's first transit-oriented development on Long Island, according to Long Island Business News. It joins other residential projects reshaping the area around the station, including a $97 million, 187-unit transit-oriented development from Manhattan-based Alpine Residential and the 131-unit Cornerstone Westbury, which developers Terwilliger & Bartone opened in 2023, per Newsday. Westbury received a state designation as a pro-housing community in 2024, making it eligible for a share of $750 million in discretionary state funds, Newsday also reported. A separate multiphase Terwilliger & Bartone project nearby was expected to add roughly 130 more apartment units to the surrounding blocks.
