Heatherwood lands $156M loan for LI multifamily project

Heatherwood is moving full steam ahead on a West Hempstead project, despite being locked in a legal battle with the town over a separate development a stone’s throw away.

The multifamily developer scored a $156.3 million construction loan from Bank OZK for a 428-unit, transit-oriented project at 111 Hempstead Turnpike, the Commercial Observer reported. It is the largest nonrecourse construction loan made by a single lender in suburban Long Island, according to the bank.

The luxury apartment community, dubbed Heritage Westminster, will feature one-, two- and three-bedroom homes, as well as townhouses. Community amenities will include a pool, fitness center, lounges and a two-acre courtyard.

Commack-based Heatherwood proposed the project in 2021 with a starting price tag of $170 million, which ballooned during the two-year gap it took to break ground. At the time shovels hit dirt, local officials hailed the project as the largest transit-oriented development in Nassau County history and a ridership booster for the nearby Long Island Rail Road station.

The nine-acre site was previously occupied by National Wholesale Liquidators, though it was vacated prior to the pandemic when the company filed for bankruptcy.

A Walker & Dunlop team including Jonathan Schwartz, Aaron Appel and Keith Kurland arranged the financing. The project, for which the developer reached a 20-year payment in lieu of taxes agreement with the town, is expected to be completed next year.

It’s a far different situation for Heatherwood than what’s unfolding across from the Long Island Rail Road station in the hamlet of Lawrence. The developer sued Hempstead over its repeal of a transit-oriented zoning code, which it claims runs afoul of state law and jeopardizes a 309-unit, $154 million project.

Arkansas-based Bank OZK, meanwhile, is one of the most important financial institutions to the commercial real estate industry, though critics say its exposure to real estate could prove risky.

— Holden Walter-Warner