It has been several years since the Village of Roslyn Board of Trustees, the Planning Board and the Board of Zoning Appeals all gave their approval to a senior housing facility in downtown Roslyn.

Now, Michael Daly, president of Forest City, the Manhattan-based firm that is building the facility, said that his company is "ready to go" with an official groundbreaking in January.

When the construction work on the facility---officially to be named Bryant Landing after the famous poet and newspaper editor---begins in January, the first piece of work will be the restoration of a waterfront access park. That project, Daly said, should be completed by the spring of 2004. Daly added that it should take a good 24 months to finish the entire project.

Daly also said that Forest City already has "some depositors" for the new senior housing facility. Daly favorably compared the interest in the Roslyn site to similar Forest City facilities in Rye Brook and Greenwich, CT. If there has been a delay in the construction plans for the Roslyn facility, then it is due to design and financing matters, Daly said. The Roslyn facility represents a "major project to be financed" and that takes some time.

Bryant Landing will contain 250 rental units, either one or two bedrooms. The tallest building will be three stories, with an elevator. In the past, Daly has admitted that with the real estate market in a continual state of flux, he could not predict the actual size of the apartments. But he has praised the facility's architectural company, Robert A.M. Stern, as being one of the finest in the country.

In fact, Daly has said that since Bryant Landing will be located in the village's Historic District, the architecture of the facility will resemble the historic homes located downtown and in surrounding neighborhoods. Forty to 50 percent of the apartments, Daly has also said, will have outdoor terraces. On the exterior of the facilities, there will be grounds with chairs overlooking Hempstead Harbor, while the indoor space will contain, among other amenities, a library, a movie theater, a store and a café, and an arts and crafts room for the residents.

Another key element of the site will be a major walkway, one connecting the facility to both the waterfront along Hempstead Harbor and to Old Northern Boulevard. The grounds will also include the before-mentioned four-acre park, plus natural springs that will allow for three freshwater ponds to be constructed. The ponds and the waterfront will allow for both blue fishing and bass fishing opportunities. The park and the waterfront will be open to both residents of Bryant Landing and to all those living in the Roslyn area.

In addition, Daly has emphasized that Bryant Landing will not be an assisted living quarter. Instead, it would be closer to resort-style living, an apartment complex with numerous services. Daly has also maintained that the Forest City philosophy is to run their businesses "like a Mom and Pop store." In its 80-year history, Forest City has never sold any of its buildings, a move that might put the tenants' fate in limbo.

On the environmental front, Forest City has conducted a cleanup along the northern shore of Hempstead Harbor, one that resulted in that patch of land testing "clean" for the first time in decades. Local officials have praised Forest City's environmental cleanups as a model to be used on brownfield sites throughout the state.