Members of the Alternate Development Subcommittee, which is comprised of active, local civic leaders and was formed to start to investigate other viable uses for Syosset's Cerro site such as residential, industrial, senior housing and mixed-use, met with a second developer last week to discuss options.

As was stated in previous articles, the site is still owned by the Taubman Company, which has expressed no interest in selling the site. The developers are made aware of the circumstances before they meet with the subcommittee.

Trammell Crow Residential (TCR), which has developed over 200,000 multi-family units in most major markets across the U.S since its inception in 1977, met with the committee on Feb. 16 to discuss their potential plans for the 39-acre Cerro site.

According to their website, TCR has established itself as the country's leader for multifamily residential developers with its ongoing broad base of multi-family industry research, financial strength, and local market knowledge. Their primary business is value creation through the acquisition, land entitlement, development, and construction of multi-family housing. TCR bases its activity on superior knowledge of local market needs and trends. Seeking properties of the highest caliber that meet with consumer demand, TCR aims to enhance the communities of which they are a part, and ultimately provide superior yields for investors, clients and partners. Also, TRC has built on brownfield sites similar to Cerro.

Joseph S. Torg, Jr., TCR's senior managing director of the northeast, spoke to committee members about TCR's plans for the Cerro site. He started his presentation by showing those in attendance renditions of past projects that he has worked on and showed them what the possibilities include for the site.

TCR does all multi-family developing and does not do detached so their plans included all multi-family dwellings. Torg also suggested residential over small-scale retail. He said without the retail, the project would not be profitable for any developer. Small-scale, according to Torg, would mix neighborhood convenience; he cited a dry cleaners as an example, and small to medium box stores, like Borders and Starbucks, for example.

Torg's preliminary plans for Cerro include commercial, office and residential, including approximately 800 - 1,200 residential units that would include rentals, for-sale condos and age restricted units. Torg explained that rentals absorb quicker than a for-sale building and have many advantages.

The comment about 800 - 1,200 residential units sparked some concern for committee members, as they are worried about the influx of new students to the Syosset School District. Many say the district can't handle any new students and they asked if more, if not all, units could be age- restricted in some way.

"Age restricting the entire site would be tough," said Torg. "You might affect the value. If you do that, you are excluding so many people."

Torg suggested 3 or 4 story buildings on the property. Carol Meschkow, president of Concerned Citizens of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Community Inc., asked if two stories would work. Torg said that the density would have to be considered and a project that small would not generate any money. "You have to offer any developer, not just us, a viable option to make it worthwhile," he said.

Torg also said that TCR would be open to using union labor, something that the Taubman Company has promised with regard to their proposed mall.

The committee explained the situation to Torg regarding the current ownership of the Cerro site and Taubman plans to build a mall. Torg said TCR would be open to approaching Taubman regarding a joint venture.

"That 40-acres - you could have something really great there. It's a great site," said Torg. "I am not here to sell anything. I am here to give you some ideas and also get some ideas from you. I think we'd be very interested in creating a plan for something that could be great on that site if you wanted to work with us."

Over the next few months, the subcommittee will hear from various developers who are interested in presenting ideas for alternate development on the Cerro Site.

According to committee members, a town-wide mailing will be sent informing residents of the committee's goals and also surveying residents to gauge how many Town of Oyster Bay residents are interested in alternate development on this site. A website has also been created to generate information. Visit www.nomallhere.com and click on "latest news" for more information.