Four years ago the Albanese Development Corporation and Castagna Realty joined forces to revitalize and upgrade available buildings along Franklin Avenue as part of the revitalization efforts in the village. Last week, Albanese and Castagna announced that they will be purchasing a third building as part of this effort. The organizations will be buying the headquarters of the former Roosevelt Savings Bank from its most recent owner, the Roslyn Savings Bank.

The two companies have already jointly purchased 888 Franklin Avenue where Kings Supermarket will go and the former A&S building, at 855 Franklin Avenue, which is being converted into the New York Sports Club and a major office for Salomon Smith Barney. According to Russell Matthews, executive vice president of the Albanese Development Corp., Albanese reached out to Castagna about joining forces because of Castagna's "outstanding reputation in the field of retail development."

The companies' newest acquisition, the 50,000-square-foot building at 1122 Franklin Avenue, across the street from Sears, will be updated for new offices. Matthews noted that renovations will be done to the interior of the building and there will be some minor renovations done to the exterior of the first floor. They also plan on "refreshing" the lobby and installing state-of-the-art telecommunications services. The building is now partially occupied by some Roslyn Savings Bank employees, according to Matthews, until Roslyn officially moves into their new headquarters in Jericho.

Albanese and Castagna plan to update the building for new offices. Matthews explained that the entire building will remain office space and they are currently looking for prospective tenants to fill those offices.

When asked in an interview with the Garden City Life, why Albanese and Castagna chose to purchase another building on Franklin Avenue, Matthews stated, "Office tenants find Garden City to be a very attractive place to do business."

In a recent press release Matthews stated, "They like the fact that Garden City is Nassau's hub for the legal and business communities. Our location, with its easy access to major highways and two stations of the Long Island Rail Road, is a major plus. They especially like the new look of Franklin Avenue with its many newly-renovated buildings and its upscale shops and restaurants."

In the same release, John J. Gutleber, president of Castagna Realty Company, Inc., added, "Franklin Avenue has become one of the most attractive retail and office locations on Long Island and the synergies of office development and local shops and restaurants are what is driving the renaissance of this area. The catalyst of our development of these prime properties on Franklin Avenue and the Village of Garden City's recently-completed streetscape beautification project has been a tremendous help in improving the area and making it more inviting to pedestrians. This has generated tremendous interest on the part of retailers to locate new stores on Franklin Avenue."

Another building that has recently been purchased, although not by Albanese and Castagna, is 1000 Franklin Avenue, the former headquarters of Astoria. This building has been bought by Vincent Polimeni Realty in connection with Edward Kalikow Development. According to Matthews, Polimeni and Kalikow would like to renovate that building but must first find tenants for the building. The purchase of the building was mentioned at a meeting of the Parking Commission last month because there were concerns raised that the shortage of parking in that area would make finding retail tenants more difficult.

Matthews noted that parking is not an issue with the building that Albanese and Castagna purchased because "that parking field has adequate parking for the buildings that abut it."

According to Matthews, the building they have purchased at 1122 Franklin Avenue, was originally built as the headquarters for Roosevelt Savings Bank in 1978. He went on to note that this is a very well constructed building.

"Franklin Avenue is really a first-class office and retail business district and we believe, by adding this building to our portfolio that, with the upgrades that we're making, it will be a real asset to Franklin Avenue and to the village," concluded Matthews.