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Project: 129 Beach 116th Street (Seaport Landing)

The Marcal Group, developers from Brooklyn, have announced plans that will transform the west end’s main commercial corridor. The plan, called Seaport Landing, will be a complex of four buildings, each 9 stories high, from Beach 115th to Beach 117th offering 240,000 square feet of residential development with 23,000 feet of prime retail space.

The main building on the west side of Beach 116th Street – the site of the old Beach Club catering hall and its adjacent parking lot -- will be a 9-story building (one story higher than the oceanfront Ocean Grande) and consist of condominium units and ground floor retail space. The plans are for the units to be market rate. A “sister” building – somewhat smaller -- will be on the east side of the street on what is now a vacant lot.

Mark Caller, 44, the principal partner, said he had been looking at the Peninsula Hospital site more than a year ago to do affordable housing but said “We are not affordable housing developers” and plans there fell through. It was around then that he started taking a closer look at Rockaway. “I’m from Brooklyn but I bought myself a bike, rode over the Marine Parkway Bridge. I went to 116th Street and said, ‘I want to do something here.’”

He called the owner of the Beach Club property and a deal was struck for $5 million in December, 2015. Soon thereafter he bought a vacant lot across the street and has since purchased the building where Rock-a-Pup pet shop and Cuisine By Claudette do business. Caller said he would like the two stores to stay in business saying, “I like good tenants.” He bought that property primarily to secure air rights and secure future development plans.

Of the Seaside Landing project Caller says, “I believe this will completely change 116th Street.”

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http://rockawaytimes.com/index.php/n...illion-project