In Brief:
- Wegmans, Trader Joe’s and national restaurant chains made major Long Island moves in 2025.
- Large-scale residential and transit-oriented developments advanced in Patchogue, Westbury and East Northport.
- Pickleball facilities and experiential retail continued expanding across former big-box spaces.
- Rising construction costs, financing pressure and approvals slowed some development activity.
While this year saw interest rates level off slightly from the nearly 7 percent average from the previous year, 2025 still presented a slew of obstacles for Long Island’s real estate and development industry.
Tariffs on building materials and other products, hiring issues and the ever-present opposition to development projects were challenges to overcome this year. In addition, continued low inventory and soaring home prices plagued the residential market, cutting into sales activity and highlighting the need for more housing.
Nevertheless, the region saw progress on some major development projects and some big deals in commercial real estate and the retail sector, with many new businesses planning or opening their first Long Island locations.
As always, LIBN covered it all, reporting on some of the biggest business stories of the year.
After eyeing Long Island for more than a decade, Wegmans finally opened its first supermarket here. Casanova, the chain’s animatronic rooster, began welcoming customers in February to the freshly minted 101,000-square-foot store at 3270 Middle Country in Lake Grove.
Though the new Lake Grove store is the chain’s first on Long Island, it won’t be its last. Brokers say Wegmans is planning to eventually have three or four locations here; the company is actively pursuing sites and properties that can accommodate its 100,000-square-foot supermarkets.
After opening those New York City stores, Wegmans finally secured a Long Island foothold in 2023 when it closed on its purchase of the 8.5-acre Lake Grove development site. The grocery chain paid Prestige Properties & Development, owner of DSW Plaza, $15.3 million for the property.
Also in the supermarket space, LIBN was first to report that national grocery chain Trader Joe’s planned to develop a sprawling warehouse and distribution complex at the 66-acre former CA site in Islandia, which it purchased in August for $118.5 million.
The Monrovia, Calif.-based supermarket chain’s Islandia distribution complex will total 921,000 square feet, which will be one of the largest single-user industrial properties on Long Island. And based on the staffing at the company’s other larger distribution centers, the Islandia hub could create as many as 800 jobs. The project will also open the door for the chain to expand its area retail footprint and add to its seven stores already on Long Island.
In other retail news, LIBN broke the story that Rite Aid had missed rent payments in April, foretelling the chain closing all of its Long Island locations. The eventual Rite Aid closings announcement in May came as little surprise to Long Island landlords, as the struggling chain has closed several stores over the last few years and just 13 remained here.
After emerging from bankruptcy in Sept. 2024, the formerly publicly traded corporation went private while cutting $2 billion in debt and adding $2.5 billion in exit financing. Rite Aid, which had more than 4,000 stores nationwide 30 years ago, has also slimmed its footprint and was down to about 1,400 stores as of Q3 2024, according to its website.
And while Rite Aid is no longer, several new chains either opened or planned for their first Long Island locations this year. Prolific franchise firm Doherty Enterprises, which owns and operates Applebee’s and Panera Bread among others, will soon be opening the Island’s first Jinya Ramen Bar in Lake Grove with another to follow in Massapequa Park. Florida-based Mexican restaurant chain Rocco’s Tacos & Tequila Bar opened a 5,500-square-foot restaurant at Walt Whitman Shops this month, its first on Long Island.
Dave’s Hot Chicken, the chain’s first here, opened a 2,555-square-foot eatery in the Parkway Plaza shopping center at 207 Glen Cove Road in Carle Place. The Froccaros, Long Island’s first family of franchisees, plan on eventually opening 14 Dave’s Hot Chicken locations—seven on Long Island and seven in Queens.
LIBN was first to report that Joe & The Juice, a global chain of juice bar cafés,
has leased locations in Woodbury and Manhasset, where it will debut the concept here. The Denmark-based chain, which primarily offers coffee, juice, shakes and sandwiches, is in the midst of an aggressive expansion. The first Long Island location will be the 2,769-square-foot store in Woodbury Town Plaza at 8025 Jericho Turnpike in Woodbury, formerly the long-time home of Gabby’s Bagels and the company will also open a 2,249-square-foot eatery in the new Manhasset Row at 1579 Northern Blvd. in Manhasset. Both will open next year.
Pickleball continued its march to open clubs and facilities across the area. The first Long Island location for fast-growing pickleball chain The Picklr opened this month. The 33,900-square-foot club opened at 231 Centereach Mall in Centereach, a space formerly occupied by a Big Lots store. It features 11 courts with sound-reducing matrix systems and performance lighting, as well as a pro shop, café, lounge and locker rooms. Pickleball Heaven opened a 55,700-square-foot pickleball complex at 645 National Blvd. in Medford, featuring 18 courts, a 2,500-square-foot pro shop and player lockers and a 60-foot bar with a full kitchen.
On the development side, some major projects moved forward in 2025. LIBN was first to report on a $160 million luxury apartment project primed to transform a rundown section of Patchogue‘s downtown. Farmingdale-based Nord Development Group, led by Joseph Rossi and Peter Ferrandino, recently began construction on a two-building, 455,000-square-foot residential rental complex that will bring 262 apartments to a 4.08-acre site on West Main Street.
The development called Carriage House will create two five-story buildings bisected by the northern end of the Patchogue River. The plan includes a reclamation of the waterway and a new riverwalk and park area spanning 32,570 square feet. The buildings also provide on-site parking for 410 cars on the ground level and a slew of amenities.
LIBN also exclusively reported on a new $97 million transit-oriented residential development in Westbury from Manhattan-based Alpine Residential. The project will bring 187 apartments to a 1.91-acre site across from the Westbury LIRR station. LIBN was also first to report on Manhattan-based Gotham Organization’s proposed $100 million mixed-use development on the former MTA parking lot at the Westbury LIRR station.
The Westbury project will be the MTA’s first transit-oriented development on Long Island as part of its ongoing TOD campaign aimed at leveraging private investment to create housing opportunities on underutilized property at commuter train stations.
Gotham plans to build a five-story, mixed-use building on 1.92 acres of an MTA-owned surface parking lot on Railroad Avenue. The plan would bring 157 apartments over 15,000 square feet of ground-level retail space to the now closed parking lot just south of the Westbury LIRR station, according to MTA documents.
Other new developments that advanced this year included an $82 million project from Heatherwood Luxury Rentals called Heritage on Main, which will bring 165 apartments over 3,500 square feet of retail space to a 1.42-acre vacant site once occupied by a Sears store at 203-213 East Main St. The new five-story, 238,342-square-foot building will bring a mix of 52 studios, 80 one-bedroom and 33 two-bedroom market-rate apartments. Amenities at Heritage on Main will include a clubroom, fitness center, resident lounges and rooftop terrace with views of the Peconic River and beyond.
Just before Thanksgiving, families began moving into the long-awaited Matinecock Court affordable development in East Northport. After more than 46 years in the making, the $97-million development, a partnership between D&F and Greenlawn-based Housing Help, the complex on 14.5 acres on the northwest corner of Elwood Road and Pulaski Road brings 146 residences in 17 two-story residential buildings consisting of 18 one-bedroom units, 89 two-bedroom units, 38 three-bedroom units and a two-bedroom unit for the superintendent. Eight of the units are reserved for individuals with developmental disabilities and five are set aside for veterans. The project includes a 2,500-square-foot community building with a fitness center, administrative offices and meeting areas for residents. It also has its own sewage treatment plant.
Finally, in another LIBN exclusive, Taconic Capital closed on its $14 million purchase of a 13.3-acre development site next to Oheka Castle in Huntington, aimed at reviving a plan to develop a condominium project. The property, part of the Cold Spring Country Club, has been enmeshed with a controversial development plan for the last 17 years.
Sources say Taconic is waiting to take over the castle property before it moves forward with a plan to build condos, possibly as many as 190. Taconic was granted a foreclosure judgment and was about to take over the property at a foreclosure sale scheduled for last August, when Gary Melius’ Oheka entity Kahn Property Owner filed for Chapter 11 on July 31 in a last-ditch effort to stop the foreclosure sale. The bankruptcy action automatically stayed the foreclosure proceedings, which are currently stalled.
David Winzelberg
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