Island Park: Small-town charm, housing development draw buyers

THE SCOOP A former summer escape that became a year-round community, Island Park is a small town with big development plans to meet housing needs.

Between Long Beach and the southern Nassau mainland, Island Park is made up of three sections: an incorporated village, Barnum Island and Harbor Isle.

"What makes Island Park so special isn't just our beautiful waterfront or our small-town charm — it's our people," said Michael McGinty, mayor of the incorporated village. "For generations, this has been a community where neighbors know one another, families put down roots and people are always willing to lend a helping hand."

Throughout the year, the village hosts community events for residents and visitors alike, including an Easter egg hunt at Masone Beach, a Memorial Day Parade, summer concert series, Labor Day extravaganza with fireworks, Halloween celebration/fall festival and holiday Winter Wonderland.

This year, the village commemorated its 100th anniversary with a parade in August, and a concert/block party at Masone Beach.

Two new housing projects are in the works: 42 units of affordable housing for veterans and a 117-unit waterfront rental complex, both on Barnum Island.

These developments, McGinty said, "will help address the growing demand for housing in our area and contribute to the continued revitalization and renaissance of the greater Island Park community."

When Europeans arrived in the mid-1600s, the hamlet was known as Hog Island. During the Revolutionary War, the area served as a strategic stronghold for keeping the British away from Long Island's southern shoreline.

In 1870, the New York and Long Beach Railroad, later part of the Long Island Rail Road, laid tracks across the island from Lynbrook to Long Beach. At the time, the hamlet was called Barnum Island, for its biggest landowner, Sarah Ann Baldwin Barnum.

Planning to turn it into the "Venice of the United States," developers Frank Lawson and William Austin bought Barnum Island in 1910, but World War I scuttled their dreams. They sold it to the Island Park-Long Beach Corp. in 1921, and the area was renamed Island Park.

After extensive dredging, the addition of an electric plant and waterworks, the first 15 houses were built along Kildare Road. A business district soon developed along Long Beach Road and the village was incorporated in 1926, when there were fewer than 1,000 property owners.

Gradually, the island morphed from a summer resort for city residents into a year-round community.

SALE PRICES Between Aug. 13, 2025, and Aug. 12, 2026, there were 63 home sales with a median sale price of $735,000, according to OneKey MLS. During the same period a year earlier, there were 53 home sales with a median sale price of $649,000.

CONDOS AND CO-OPS There are four condos, priced between $679,000 and $949,000, on the market.

OTHER STATS

Population 4,976

Median age 40.9

Median home value $735,000

Monthly LIRR ticket from Island Park $299.75

School districts, graduation rates Island Park (K-8), Long Beach High School (95%)

Library Island Park

Transit NICE Bus Route 15

Sources: 2024 American Community Survey; OneKey MLS via InfoSparks by ShowingTime; LIRR; data.nysed.gov; Nassau Inter-County Express

RECENTLY SOLD

$975,000

Pershing Place

Style Postmodern

Bedrooms 4

Bathrooms 2½

Built 2025

Lot size 0.17 acre

Taxes $6,934

+/- List price -$125,000

Days on market 636

$785,000

Parente Lane North

Style Colonial

Bedrooms 3

Bathrooms 2

Built 1952

Lot size 0.17 acre

Taxes $10,557

+/- List price +$60,000

Days on market 133

$570,000

Hamilton Avenue

Style Cape

Bedrooms 3

Bathrooms 2

Built 1949

Lot size 0.18 acre

Taxes $10,548

+/- List price +$100

Days on market 92

ON ONEKEY MLS

Number of listings 22

Price range $579,000 to $1.569 million

Tax range $6,874 to $19,081