When it came to living on Long Island, Renee Mendoza, a 36-year-old consultant, thought of houses and lawns. But when she moved here from San Jose, California, last summer, she also liked the idea of an apartment surrounded by sidewalks, stores and restaurants.

"I'm a single person and I liked the dynamic of an apartment building instead of a house," Mendoza said in her apartment in The Core Station Yards in Ronkonkoma. "There's the convenience of things in the building."

She likes her building's gym, fitness center and yoga studio, as well as restaurants, retail and the Ronkonkoma Long Island Rail Road station nearby.

On Long Island, cars have long been king and housing has usually meant houses. But for younger generations, including some who can't afford a Manhattan apartment or a house in the suburbs yet, transit-oriented developments, or TODs, are giving them the best of both worlds.

And for older residents, living in an apartment where they don't have to take care of all the maintenance themselves and get the benefits of community can be appealing.

Experts say TOD, at least today's version, helps fill a housing void on the Island, allowing young people to move and live here, and giving older residents another option.

"Young people want to have this lifestyle where they're near a train station, in an apartment," said Matthew Cohen, CEO of Long Island Association, a nonprofit business organization. "It's a tool in the tool kit to make Long Island appealing to young people."

When NYC and homeownership aren't doable yet

Some people in a TOD  find proximity to a train station to be a boon. Dominic DiMatteo, a 33-year-old business unit manager for products, moved from Holbrook to Alston Station Yards four years ago when he was working in Manhattan.

"I could walk to the train and get to and from home conveniently," he said. "It was a huge factor in choosing this location."

Others go to New York City more for pleasure than business. "It's not a hassle to get to the city. To me, it's convenient," said Mendoza, who does a lot of remote work and travels to Manhattan to socialize, go to shows, for games, entertainment and some work.

"It’s extremely convenient" to live next to an LIRR station, said Alexandra Cerone, 34, who moved into The Core in May 2024. "I go mostly to Manhattan and I’ve had my friends come from Manhattan.”

Everyone looks out for each other. Everyone’s very friendly. That's the No. 1 thing I like about it. It's more than just apartments.

— Core resident Alexandra Cerone

But living in a TOD means she also can access many of those perks at home, with an added sense of belonging.

"They have events here," Mendoza said. "That's how I got to know a lot of people in the building. It creates a sense of community."

DiMatteo likes the cleanliness, grounds, community and activities that give connection as well as housing.

"There are so many community events," he said. "There's a good community feel."

Cerone added, "Everyone looks out for each other. Everyone’s very friendly. That's the No. 1 thing I like about it. It's more than just apartments.”

Appealing to younger Long Islanders

Residents first arrived at Core Station Yards in January 2024. Its 388 apartments joined Alston Station Yards, where residents began arriving in 2019. Alston Station Yards units are now 100% leased and rents range from the low $2,000s to the mid-to-high $4,000s, according to Jimmy Coughlan, executive vice president of development and a partner at Ronkonkoma-based Tritec Real Estate.

"With mortgage rates and home prices going as high as they have, it's more affordable for most to rent than buy," Coughlan said.

The median price of a home on Long Island, excluding the East End, reached $725,000 in the second quarter of 2025, Newsday has reported. Renting in the city can be equally costly, as prices in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island City eclipse those in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles.

"Younger residents may find it more affordable to rent before deciding where they want to settle and save for a home," Westbury Mayor Peter Cavallaro said. "There's a huge demand for this type of housing."

Meeting that demand are communities like Farmingdale, which has more than 500 apartments. Patchogue, Mineola, Hicksville and Wyandanch also are hotbeds, and Ronkonkoma is the new poster child for TOD.

"TOD is a lower housing cost and provides a steppingstone," Coughlan said.

Cerone, a registered dietitian, moved to The Core from an apartment in Queens.

"There are a lot of young professionals here," she said. "I can go downstairs and get something to eat. For a busy, working professional, it's set up as an ideal situation."

Other demographics drawn to TODs

While some homeowners are averse to apartments in their communities, others see them as appealing options to satisfy a dire need.

"We need more supply," Cohen said. "We need more diverse housing options. We need more apartments and more market rate housing."

Cavallaro believes TODs are a fit for many residents, often from New York City, who "are accustomed to more varied housing stock." Also, he said they could appeal to older residents who want to stay in their communities after they sell their homes nearby. Cohen added that empty nesters "don't need as much space" and often believe smaller can be better.

Another key demographic sector showing demand is health care professionals. "Doctors and nurses work pretty hard all hours of the night," Coughlan said. "To be able to come home and have zero maintenance is appealing. If something goes wrong, you call the maintenance team and they fix it."

"It's a convenience-based lifestyle," Coughlan said of TOD. "You have dozens of amenities, fitness facilities, saunas, pools, lounges."

DiMatteo said in addition to granite, modern lighting, and spacious closet space, maintenance inside and outside are big pluses. "I love the cleanliness, the staff. They're ready to help," he said. "The grounds are kept immaculate."

Managing partner of Manhattan-based Alpine Residential Todd Schefler also put busy health care professionals at the top of the renters' list, but added that TODs draw a wide range of renters.

"There are lots of young people, singles, couples," he said. "You get people who are divorced and people selling homes and downsizing. You get students."

Pumping life into a downtown

In the suburbs, this is a big change as developers and communities embrace a new era where the train station is part of a walkable hub.

"Transit-oriented development is a way to combine a mix of uses," Coughlan said. "Apartments, retail, office buildings and hospitality create walkable downtowns surrounding train stations, near highways or bus stations."

Cohen added that "forward-thinking communities" have embraced the idea. "It's a win-win for the village, the town and the residents," he said.

Farmingdale Mayor Ralph Ekstrand said the village had 32 vacant storefronts on Main Street before the first apartments arrived in 2012. "With the revitalization and the building of these apartments, we've had people come in with disposable income and infuse money into the village," Ekstrand said.

Alpine Residential is planning 187-unit Scally Place on 1.9 acres within steps of the Westbury Long Island Rail Road station and downtown business district. That is slated to begin construction in the first quarter of 2026 and to open two years later.

Alpine broke ground at the end of 2024 in Hicksville on a four-story building called The Lisle slated to be completed in 2026 with 189 units at "the foot of the train station," Schefler said.

"Both are revitalizing areas," Schefler said of structures with pools, game rooms, lounges, door attendants, concierges and coworking spaces. "[Residents] commute or go into the city for entertainment."

Alpine's Hicksville project replaces two older, obsolete buildings and parking lots that became problematic.

"I believe the overall potential for what's coming to Hicksville will be similar to what happened in Farmingdale," said Charles Razenson, president of the Hicksville Chamber of Commerce.

"The train station has so many values, because of the commute to the city," he added. "You can also be at UBS, the Barclays Center. It's a central part of taking people from here to the city."

No Main Street? No problem.

If an area has an existing Main Street, Coughlan said they usually don't develop retail. But in Ronkonkoma, they had to create it. Tritec's project would expand to 1,450 apartments at Ronkonkoma, essentially building a village.

Rather than only building in established downtowns, developers are expanding and enhancing them with a Main Street, neighborhood feel.

"You want to be near other people, in an activated, buzzing downtown," Coughlan said. "That's hard to find in the suburbs. But we're trying to create it."

Mayors often led the TOD movement, rezoning to revitalize downtowns. John Cameron Jr., executive principal at IMEG and chairman of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, believes vision is key.

"Some mayors and town supervisors are leading the charge on TOD and economic development to get their downtowns going," said Cameron.

He continued, "In Hicksville, smaller developments are going up around the station ... We're doing major improvements there for the town."

Alpine is developing 7,000 square feet of retail there, including restaurants, a coffee shop and bakery.

Paying for it

The state supports the shift with Pro-Housing Community Program, providing funds to communities that support TOD. "Westbury and Hicksville got $10 million for beautification and rezoning," Schefler of Alpine said. "The state is also behind this big push."

Cavallaro said Westbury was designated a "pro-housing" community in summer 2024, entitling it "to preferred consideration in various pools of state money."

While opting in as a pro-housing community is "one resource," Cohen said, "it's not a silver bullet."

Westbury used some of its 2016 $10 million grant for downtown improvement to rezone 52 acres near its train station from light industrial that "was blighted in some degree," Cavallaro said, noting rezoning opened the door to TOD.

Baldwin won a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant to create a walkable, mixed-use business district around the LIRR station. Breslin Realty's The Grand's 215 apartments across the street from the LIRR is being developed, with smaller projects in the works.

Love it or hate it

Ultimately, experts say the community has to stand behind these projects before approval.

"If the town doesn't want us to go there, we don't go there," Coughlan said. "There are projects that are financeable and ones the community wants. You have to find the intersection between those two."

Cavallaro said there has been some talk of regulations to turn more railroad stations, in general, into sites for renewal. But TOD advocates like Cavallaro believe that goes too far.

I think for certain communities it makes sense. For others, it doesn't.

— Westbury Mayor Peter Cavallaro

"I think for certain communities it makes sense. For others, it doesn't," Cavallaro said. "I would never advocate for mandatory TOD or multifamily requirements. Not every community has the history of that kind of housing, nor the appetite or infrastructure."

Places like Farmingdale, which is 1.25 square miles, are running out of land, warehouses and other structures to build TOD. "There's not much area left to develop," Ekstrand said. "A developer would have to buy houses and apply for development."

That said, many believe it's a way to battle the housing shortage and keep up with demand, while keeping the next generation on the Island.

"We need to make sure that young people getting out of college have a path to live here, and one day buy a house and raise a family," Coughlan said.