Great Neck apartments to receive $22 million in state funds for gut renovation

New York State will provide $22 million toward a gut renovation of a 75-unit senior housing complex in Great Neck that had previously failed several federal housing inspections, state and village officials on Friday.

Glen Cove-based affordable housing developer Georgica Green Ventures will complete the $49.4 million rehabilitation project as part of an agreement with the Village of Great Neck Housing Authority.

Great Neck Mayor Pedram Bral said Friday that he appreciated the state support for affordable apartments in the village, which can be hard to find.

“I’m hoping the people who are there significantly benefit from it,” Bral said in an interview. “I wish we could add to the number of 75 units. I don’t think it’s enough.”

Asking rents for apartments in the broader Great Neck area start around $2,300 a month, with many newer buildings seeking $4,000 or more, listings on Apartments.com show. Elsewhere in the village, construction started earlier this week on a 64-unit apartment complex. The developer Villadom Corp. has not publicly disclosed its plan for rent prices.

“Many people are complaining that their children have to leave after they get married because there’s nothing they can afford in Great Neck,” Bral said.

Overhaul needed

The Great Neck project was one of five statewide that will receive a combined $348 million to either create or renovate 750 affordable apartments. It is part of Gov. Kathy Hochul's broader plan, first announced in 2022, to spend $25 billion over five years to create or preserve 100,000 affordable units statewide.

The Great Neck building, at 700 Middle Neck Rd., was built in 1983 and needs a substantial overhaul of its electrical, plumbing, septic and fire-prevention systems, David Gallo, co-founder and president of Glen Cove-based Georgica Green, told Newsday in December. Gallo did not respond to a message seeking comment on Friday.

The complex failed federal housing inspections in 2022 and 2024 after inspectors found evidence of roaches and mold, Newsday previously reported. The building improved its score to 86 out of 100 on its most recent inspection in April 2025, according to federal data.

The state funding will help keep the apartments as housing for low-income tenants. Eligible tenants must earn no more than 50% of area median income. That threshold is $57,750 for an individual or $66,000 for a couple, according to standards set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Georgica Green has committed in public filings that it will not displace existing residents following the renovations, which the developer has said will take about 27 months. Residents will move to vacant apartments in the complex during the construction, Janice Sotero, executive director of the Village of Great Neck Housing Authority told Newsday in February. Sotero was not immediately available to comment on the funding Friday afternoon.

The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency approved 30 years of tax benefits valued at $5.2 million for the renovation in January. But the joint venture between Georgica Green and the housing authority will pay between $102,000 and $182,000 in payments in lieu of taxes annually. The housing authority paid just $1,200 in property taxes last year.

The project is the latest example of Georgica Green working with local authorities to rehabilitate public housing following renovations of Pond View Homes in Manhasset in 2017 and the Laurel Homes in Roslyn Heights for the North Hempstead Housing Authority.

Preserving existing affordable housing is one way to ensure people on Long Island with lower incomes can afford rents, said Ian Wilder, executive director of Long Island Housing Services, a fair housing agency that serves Nassau and Suffolk counties.

“There is no one single solution to the affordable housing crisis on Long Island,” Wilder said. “Instead, we need wedges of different solutions to build us up to the numbers we need, and bringing existing housing back up to [being] livable and well maintained is one of those wedges.”

Newsday’s Celia Young contributed reported to this story.

By Jonathan LaMantia

jonathan.lamantia@newsday.com@jonlamantia

Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.