HALF HOLLOW HILLS Copyright © 2012 Long Islander Newspapers, LLC
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VOLUME FIFTEEN, ISSUE 25
MELVILLE
MELVILLE
A rendering of a residential building in “The Club at Melville,” an affordable senior community planned for Deshon Drive. By Danny Schrafel dschrafel@longislandernews.com
Deshon Partners, the developer of a 261-unit senior residential community on property once owned by Newsday, filed site plans for “The Club At Melville” with Huntington’s planning department Aug. 22. The schematic site plans call for units in the for-sale, income-restricted senior development to be spread across 11 buildings situated on 13 of the 18 acres on the Deshon Drive property, which was owned by the Tribune Company, former parent company of Newsday. Units will range in size from 900 to 1,200 square feet, but most will be about 1,200 square feet, said Michael Cox, counsel for Deshon Partners. The most affordable units will cost about $212,000, while the middle tier is to be approximately $318,000 and the top tier $365,000. A covenant applied to the property requires the units to remain affordable in perpetuity. The smallest building is to have 18 units; the largest, 29. Seven of the 11 buildings call for 24 units. A 4,000 (Continued on page A14)
Route 110’s Own Piano Row Hub has been attracting retail and repair businesses since 1980s By Mike Koehler
Half Hollow Hills photo/Luann Dallojacono
Plans Filed For Senior Housing
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The owner of Frank & Camille’s Fine Pianos is taking credit for sparking Huntington’s own Piano Row, and she may be right. From the Long Island Expressway to just north of Walt Whitman Shops along Route 110, there are more than half a dozen companies that sell or repair pianos. Some are one-man shows, while others have major name brands. All, apparently, have found some level of success. Frank & Camille’s was the first, owner Camille Scheidemann said. In business for 36 years, she’s owned the store just south of Schwab Road for 26 years. She has 200 pianos in her Melville store alone, with another store in Carle Place and a warehouse in Farmingdale. Holding exclusive rights to sell new pianos from brands like Kawai, Baldwin, Weber and Kurzweil, Frank & Camille’s has customers from across the country. “We are the longest standing Long Island piano dealer,” the owner said. Scheidemann grew up in Dix Hills. At 10 years old, she was hired to play the organ in the mall every Saturday. When it came time to find a home for her business, she chose the Melville/Huntington Station area because of her history and its reputation as a “shopping hub.” In the meantime, Dennis Pereca was making a career for himself as a professional pianist, playing with the Bee Gees, Steppenwolf and Max Weinberg. After finding several pianos in a condition that rendered them not even playable, his interest in the instrument’s mechanics piqued with a career in piano restoration. He started The Pianotek Company in Queens in 1980. Come 1997, Pereca wanted to sell pianos and expand the business. He moved to Huntington Station. “We wanted to have a location on 110 as well. A lot of piano businesses have come and gone over the years,” Pereca said. “Where else would you be? We moved here so we could possibly pick up the scraps and bones of other companies. That was pre-Internet.”
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Route 110 has become a hub for piano businesses, largely due to its location, accessibility and growing competition. Previously operating out of a Queens warehouse off the beaten path, their Route 110 store also offered more accessibility and visibility. While piano companies choose businesses like Frank & Camille’s to hold exclusive rights to sell their brand for a certain region, The Pianotek Company takes advantage of the lack of restrictions on the used piano market to sell secondhand instruments at drastically reduced prices. “It’s a great alternative to purchasing the same Steinway brand new and at half the price,” Pereca said, adding that his experienced technicians maintain the business’ reputation online. “Fifty percent of our sales are outside of New York State.” Legendary piano maker Steinway & Sons has their flagship store in Manhattan. But when the company brain trust decided to tap deeper into the suburban market, Marketing Director Anthony Gilroy said they chose Route 110 in
Melville. The location is accessible to both Nassau and Suffolk counties, Gilroy said, and is a highly-trafficked area in a hub of high-end pianos, furniture and home furnishings. They opened three years ago, Manager Barry Tognolini said, and remain the sole Steinway company-owned showroom on Long Island. They carry plenty of old Steinways rebuilt directly from the factory in Queens, although they can also acquire new models. Tognolini typically has 30 Steinways on display at any time. “Nobody else can have new Steinways on Long Island, but we also have rebuilt Steinways, and nobody else can do that on Long Island,” he said, adding that they have a few rebuilt pianos from the late 19th century. “Steinway is synonymous with quality. Ninety-eight percent of concert pianists around the world only perform on a Steinway.” The youngest of the bunch is Faust (Continued on page A14)
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