Renovation of a residential development in Garden City, New York. Completed plans call for the renovation of a residential development.

https://www.gcnews.com/articles/gc-board-approves-114k-toll-house-renovation-project/ A month after reviewing the interior conditions of the former Long Island Motor Parkway Toll Lodge on Seventh Street, the Garden City Board of Trustees approved a renovation project on July 25. This “Toll Lodge Rehabilitation” aims to restore the historic headquarters of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce, reflecting the history of Garden City and the Long Island Motor Parkway, which was built by Willam K. Vanderbilt as the first U.S. road exclusively for automobiles. The Board awarded the $114,725 bid to Jamaica Queens-based New Safeway Contracting Corp. Superintendent of Public Works John Borroni detailed the scope, including roof replacement, exterior cleaning and painting, and interior updates for the three floors. In the same meeting, the Board rejected all other bids. Rapid Construction and Management of Holbrook withdrew its bid due to pricing errors. The Board rescinded their bid as part of the agenda. Deputy Mayor Bruce Chester inquired about the chosen contractor’s reliability. Borroni assured that New Safeway Contracting Corp. would deliver the project on time and on budget. “We held a pre-award meeting with the contractor (New Safeway Contracting Corp.) and we reviewed all the specifications, and they’re on board,” Borroni said. Village Trustee Vinny Muldoon emphasized the historical significance of the Toll Lodge, dating back to the early 1900s, and expressed confidence in the value of the awarded bid. Muldoon, who met with New Safeway Contracting, said, “They confirmed that everything we want to do is in the contract. Basically, we’re restoring a historical building in the middle of the village so it looks like what it used to be back in 1989 (when it was brought to its location on east Seventh Street) and also back in the 1920s/30s. It’s a historical building and is badly in need of the work and price-wise, when we compare its cost to the other items on our agenda tonight, we are getting a good value. At first we received bid prices ranging from just over $90,000 and up to $290,000 – which is a shocker. For what the contractor will do value-wise, and how the restored building will look like, landscaped and with flowers, this will go from a derelict looking building to an amazing-looking building which it used to be.” Mayor Mary Carter Flanagan thanked Trustee Muldoon for his expertise and efforts in the project, expressing her excitement about the restoration. “The Toll House work is something I am really excited about, and as mayor leading the last Board (April 2023-March 2024) and for the present Board, I made it a point of bringing everyone to meet there to see its condition. We observed how the decline of that building was really hard, so I am excited to see we’re going to bring it back to what it should be in our community. Thank you, Trustee Muldoon, for your efforts,” the mayor said. Muldoon responded that it is and will continue to be a team effort, and there is no “I” in team. “It will be a lovely place again for people to go and visit and understand this great piece of history in our town. We are killing a lot of birds in one stone,” he said. Trustee Bruce Torino asked if the Toll House would be ADA compliant with completion of the scheduled work, but that was not included in the scope at the moment. The original Motor Parkway Toll House dates to the era before World War I and the regulations were not in existence until the 1970s. Trustee Muldoon advised that an entryway ramp for access as well as the bathroom inside were items not in line with ADA compliance. He said the best case scenario would be equipping the Toll House’s first floor in this capacity. “Right now we are working on restoring the outside, cleaning up the inside and then making some decisions on whether we can bring it up to ADA compliance. We’d still have discussions ahead on it,” Muldoon noted. Torino said that always presents a challenge, and Muldoon concurred that the dated building had never been designed to have features measuring up to today’s codes. Chamber Presence in Village History John Wilton, president of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce, updated the Board on business district activities and shared discoveries from the Toll House. Over ten days, Wilton and interns sorted through decades-old Chamber materials for relocation to St. Paul’s cottages. Wilton said he’s looked at printed materials, brochures and Garden City memorabilia dating back nearly an entire century as he sorted the Chamber’s old materials. He expressed disappointment over the potential loss of the Chamber’s office in the Toll House but praised the current Board for mending relations. “I am finding stuff from well before any of us were born, but I am taking time to read these items and I am becoming more educated on the time and effort that our predecessors running the Garden City Chamber put in to benefit this community. It is MIND-BLOWING to see what I am finding and what they had done in the 1900s. I look at us (the Chamber) basically with potentially not having the office in the Toll House back and this is disheartening. I am a volunteer and you (the Board of Trustees) are all volunteers, and I volunteer dozens of hours every week, and my family supports me in doing this. When the Toll House (lease) was the subject with the Board, two to three years ago the Chamber Board felt that there was a schism between the Chamber and the last Board members. My presentation to the Chamber board now is that the current, new Board of Trustees is trying to mend that perception of the schism whether it exists or not,” he said. Wilton highlighted the Chamber’s historical initiatives, including street beautification, and stressed the importance of the Chamber’s role in the community’s economic stability. He urged the Board to consider the Chamber’s need for office space in the Toll House, emphasizing the shared goal of community betterment. Wilton reported that Chamber operations are a bit compromised because of the situation. “I very much hope and pray that at the end of the day when the Toll House is done, that this board understands that the village’s and the residents’ Chamber of Commerce truly does help our community be as stable as it is; we help develop the economy of the residential and the commercial communities. And, we are becoming restaurant-centric in Garden City. Please take the building (and Chamber’s office use) into deep consideration, and please do not let what I say fall on deaf ears,” he explained. He ended by saying that the Garden City Chamber is doing the right thing, and the trustees now have the ball in their court. Wilton told the Village Board, “You’re it!” --------------------------------------------------- CR Number: 2110380 Garden City Toll House Rehabilitation. Contract term: 1 Year Location: 230 Seventh Street, Garden City, NY 11530 Bid Each bid must be accompanied by a certified check or a bid bond, on forms provided herein, in the sum of not less than 5% of the amount of the bid, made payable to the Incorporated Village of Garden City, as security. Such certified checks or bid bonds will be returned to all except the three lowest bidders within three days after the opening of bids, and the remaining certified checks or bid bonds will be returned to the three lowest bidders after the execution of the contract, or if no contract has been so executed within forty-five (45) days after the opening of the bids, upon demand at any time thereafter so long as the bidder demanding same has not been notified of the acceptance of their bid. If any bidder shall fail or refuse to execute and deliver the bonds and insurance required within thirty (30) days after they has received notice of the acceptance of their bid, their certified check or bid bond shall be paid to and collected by the Village as liquidated damages for their default. The Village reserves the right to reject any or all bids and to waive any informality therein. Document Notes : The plans, specifications, form of bid and form of contract may be examined at the Office of the Purchasing Division of the Village of Garden City in the Village Hall, 351 Stewart Avenue, Garden City, New York, on or after 05/24/24 and copies thereof may then be obtained upon payment of $25 for each set or may be downloaded for no cost through New York State Contract Reporter at online. The bid specification will be listed under the Agency Name of Inc. Village of Garden City. Any bidders and non-bidders, other than the successful bidder, returning all copies of the Plans and Specifications in good condition within thirty (30) days following the award of the contract or the rejection of their bid shall be refunded the full amount of such deposit for one copy of the Plans and Specifications. A full refund shall be made to the successful bidder for one copy of Plans and Specifications. Partial reimbursement, in an amount equal to the full amount of such deposit for one set of Plans and Specifications less the actual cost of reproduction of the Plans and Specifications, shall be made for the return of all other copies of the Plans and Specifications in good condition within thirty (30) days following the award of the contract or the rejection of the bids covered by such Plans and Specifications.