If You're Thinking of Living In . . . by Michael Leahy

Author:Michael Leahy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction
ISBN: 9780307421074
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2007-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

ROCKVILLE CENTRE

People power

BY VIVIEN KELLERMAN

Since 1898, the Village of Rockville Centre has had a municipal power plant that residents say bills them at half the cost they would have to pay if a private company lit up their homes.

The power plant (run by the village’s Electric Department), a respected school system, a commute of only 30 minutes to Manhattan on the Long Island Rail Road, easy access to Long Island beaches, a bustling shopping district, several community parks, and a variety of well-established residential neighborhoods have made Rockville Centre, with its 24,000 population, a most sought-after community.

Joanne Harms, owner of the local Harms Real Estate Agency, said there had been an excess of homes for sale during the recession at the early part of the decade. But since 1993, she said, the market has turned around. Many buyers are returning to the area where they grew up. “I’m selling to my childhood friends,” she said.

Most of the village was developed between 1920 and 1950. Home prices range from about $225,000 to $1 million, generally lowest at the southern end of the village and higher at the northern end. The median price of $298,000 for a single-family house in 1997 reflected an increase of about $50,000 since 1990. Taxes on such a house are about $6,200.

One of the oldest neighborhoods is Canterbury, in the northern section of the village, a 60-year-old area of large brick center-hall Colonials and Tudors on a quarter to a third of an acre. Prices range from $350,000 to $1 million. A newer section of Canterbury, built about 40 years ago, has smaller Colonials, ranches, and split-levels priced from the low $300,000’s to high $500,000’s.

In 1929, the first large multifamily complex, the 78-unit Tudor Apartments, was built in Rockville Centre. Since then, five subsidized housing projects and 48 other multifamily complexes have been erected, ranging from garden apartments to high-rises. More than 2,700 apartments were constructed, about half of them eventually converting to co-ops. In 1997, rentals for one-bedroom apartments averaged $900 a month, with two-bedrooms renting for about $1,100.

GAZETTEER

POPULATION: 24,064.

AREA: 3.3 square miles.

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $75,781.

MEDIAN PRICE OF A SINGLE-FAMILYHOUSE: $298,000.

TAXES ON A MEDIAN-PRICED HOUSE: $6,200.

PUBLIC SCHOOL SPENDING PER PUPIL: $11,264.

DISTANCE FROM MIDTOWN MANHATTAN: 25 miles.

RUSH-HOUR TRAVEL TO MIDTOWN: 30 minutes on the Long Island Rail Road, $7 one way, $154 monthly.

CODES: Area, 516; ZIP, 11570.

During the mid-1990s, one-bedroom co-ops ranged from $60,000 to $80,000 and two-bedrooms from $80,000 to $120,000. Three-bedroom town house co-op units sold for about $150,000.

The 84-unit Park Lane, a garden apartment that is the only condominium project in the village, was constructed in the ’80s. Units range from about $200,000 for a one-bedroom unit to the high $200,000’s for two-bedrooms.

Charles and Colleen Leone lived in nearby Oceanside when they were first married. Mr. Leone, chief financial officer for a money management firm in Manhattan, said that when they were looking for their first home, Rockville Centre’s proximity to the city and to both the Southern State Parkway and Sunrise Highway was important.

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