Sports Center Work Moving Ahead

Work on a planned sports recreation facility is progressing, although a firm opening date hasn't been set, according to Joan Cergol, executive director of the Economic Development Corp. who spoke Tuesday night at t

According to the progress report, the batting cages are mostly installed and earthmoving work to prepare the miniature golf course area is underway at the Station Sports Family Fun Center on Depot Road in Huntington Station.

When completed later this year, the complex will also include an indoor facility offering simulated golf or soccer.

Owner Brad Rosen expects to open the recreation facility this summer, according to Cergol.

Façade work on the building to house the indoor games section of the sports center is nearly finished, Cergol said. Interior finishing work is starting and permits have been approved to remove houses on the site where the miniature golf course is going in.

Rosen’s project was fast-tracked this winter in hopes of being able to open in the summer. Work started in April when he got the necessary variances from the town’s to build the recreation area at the location of a former day-laborer hiring site.

In other business, the EDC board learned:

* Phase II of the streetscaping project that is adding brick sidewalks, trees, and decorative lighting along New York Avenue in Huntington Station from Pulaski to Jonny D’s Pizzeria is nearly completed. Light fixtures are expected to arrive soon, Cergol said.

* A rainwater collection system meant to water a garden at the corner of New York Avenue and Broadway by thetrain station remains to be installed. The LIRR wants a temporary easement and lease, and some tree stumps have first to be ground out.

* The on Monday appropriated $350,000 from the Environmental Open Space and Park Improvement Fund (EOSPA) for replacement of a deteriorated concrete retaining wall and installation of a security fence at Gateway Park. The new wall along New York Avenue will be an interlocking-block retaining wall. Brick sidewalks also will be installed up to the corner of Loundes Avenue by the garden. When that work is done, the LICAN group will be able to add more raised-bed garden plots inside the park.

* It has been determined that the town owns the property where a road runs in front of 1000 New York Ave. at the corner of Olive Street, Cergol said, so work can now proceed on designs for a pedestrian plaza. “We should have a plaza by the end of the year,” Cergol said.

* Two proposals have been submitted for developing 1000 New York Ave. in response to the town’s request. They will be evaluated in June. The building at the site was demolished in March after asbestos abatement was completed. The EDC has obtained a $1 million grant for a mixed-use two-story building at the site, but other proposals will be considered.