Mark Bulmash, Group Vice President of Development for the Michigan-based Taubman Company, spoke to members of the CoreNet Global Long Island Chapter, an association of executives who manage real estate on behalf of large corporations, at their March 17 meeting, which was held at the Milleridge Inn in Jericho.

Bulmash spoke to the approximately 100 real estate executives in attendance about the proposed Mall at Oyster Bay that the Taubman Company is attempting to build on the former Cerro Wire site in Syosset. Construction of the mall currently is being held by litigation now before the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court. "We're hopeful we'll ultimately prevail and this gets resolved soon," Bulmash said regarding the pending court case.

Bulmash told those in attendance that he is shooting for a 2007 opening for the proposed 860,000-square-foot shopping mall. According to Bulmash, the mall would generate annual tax revenues of $25.8 million a year, including about $6.4 million that would go to Nassau County. The figures, he said, include property taxes of $7.3 million, based on 1999 estimates, of which $1.9 million would go to Nassau. Sales taxes, he said, would produce revenues for Nassau County of $14.3 million a year. He also stated that the proposed mall would result in the creation of 2,200 construction jobs and 1,900 permanent jobs with an annual payroll of $75 million.

In March 2004, the Town of Oyster Bay granted the Taubman Company a demolition permit to demolish all structures on the 39-acre property. According to Bulmash, the demolition of the former Cerro site is "nearly done." He said demolition crews have found pockets of contaminated soil on the site that will ultimately be removed.

Bulmash told those present at the meeting that the traffic impact generated by shoppers heading to the new mall will not be as great as anticipated. "I don't think it's the problem it's been made out to be," he said, adding that only seven percent of the mall's traffic would be using Robbins Lane and that the current level of service should be maintained because of road mitigation planned by the developer.

Bulmash told those present that road improvements that would be done as part of the mall's construction include a center median along Robbins Lane from the North Service Road north to the Long Island Railroad tracks. Also, the developer would create a new turning lane as well as deceleration and acceleration lanes along the North Service Road at the Mall's entrance, along with new turning lanes on the LIE Service Road at Routes 106/107 and new ramps at the South Oyster Bay Road exits of Northern State Parkway.

Bulmash said leasing for the mall, which would be anchored by Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor department stores, is strong. "A lot of people are dying to come to Long Island. There's a lot of interest in the center," he said.

The proposed mall also would have a two-level parking deck. "We want to create a grand, airy mall," said Bulmash, noting that interior courts will be faced with stone and wood and "bathed in sunlight."

"Mr. Bulmash is putting the cart before the horse. Since the case is still pending in the New York State Appellate Court, the position of the civics has not changed," said Todd Tabricant, President of the Cerro Wire Coalition, a group of local residents and civics against the mall. "The traffic situation will still be almost 4,000 cars per hour. Any bona fide project other than a mall will generate funds for the municipality and the school district. And to publicly declare that the project is moving ahead is the same misrepresentation that the Taubman Organization has shown the community since day one."