Cover photo: Residential buildings at the Belmont at Eastview (Credit – Matt Meduri)
Town of Islip officials, community members, and labor groups convened on Thursday afternoon to cut the ribbon on the first phase of development of the Belmont at Eastview, an adaptive reuse of a former psychiatric center now home to hundreds of rental units and a swath of amenities and open-space recreation.
The original campus was developed by New York State in the 1930s, which would house the site of the Central Islip Psychiatric Center. In the 1970s, it was purchased by the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) and operated as a campus until the 2000s. The campus moved their facilities to Old Westbury and the property would become dormant. In 2021, Steel Equities and the Marcus Organization closed the property and proposed an industrial development. After having received the thumbs-down from the civic groups, Steel Equities went back to the drawing board and came up with the plan to rehabilitate the buildings.
What now sits at the property is a gated community of eleven rehabilitated buildings, with the vast majority of original architecture preserved, with 364 residential units that are now 80% leased. Ground broke in January 2022 and the first tenants occupied apartments in August 2023.
The ribbon-cutting was also the unofficial kickoff for the second phase of the project to convert the remaining two buildings into more units. The second phase of the project includes eighty-one for-sale condos for individuals fifty-years of age or older, along with 281 additional multi-family rental units, for a grand total of 726 units.
“It’s been a great run, and the uniqueness of this property is that it’s an eighty-seven acre campus,” Russ Mohr, Vice President of Development for Steel Equities, told The Messenger, adding that the housing campus is set to work in tandem with the ongoing Central Islip Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI). Last August, the Town received $18 million from the State in the form of a DRI grant and broke ground on a comprehensive sewer project for the business corridor.
“There’s about 136,000 square feet of commercial development to take place on Carleton Avenue to continue the redevelopment of the Carleton Avenue Corridor,” said Mohr. “We’re talking a food hall, a brewery, a marketplace, mixed-use retail, and a medical office building. We’re looking forward to continuing revitalizing this area, not only with services for the Belmont at Eastview, but Central Islip and the Town of Islip as a whole.”
Mohr also said that Steel Equities is bringing NYIT back to the campus in the form of an old chapel building just north of the campus on Gull Haven Drive. The 7,000-square-foot facility is a renovated NYIT School of Osteopathic Medicine. It will also serve as a family health center for the hamlet of Central Islip.
The final site plan for the additional units is anticipated by the end of the year, but the campus currently boasts eleven buildings of rental units, a swimming pool, a recreation center with game rooms, a full gym, a sports bar, basketball courts, tennis courts, pickleball courts, shuffleboard courts, barbecue pits and fire tables, a giant chess board, a community garden, and miles of walking trails and exercise stations. Open space recreation accounts for about 60% of the campus area.
Amenities for the units also include free Wi-Fi, valet trash services, water services, mail services, and parking for one vehicle, all included in the rent. Residents can pay a monthly rate for a second parking pass.
The campus is also conveniently located near the Central Islip LIRR station, Fairfield Properties Ballpark, home of the Long Island Ducks, Touro Law Center, the Cohalan Court Complex, and other fixtures of the Town of Islip.
“The Belmont at Eastview project and this development team are a textbook example of a public-private partnership engaging the community and listening to the community,” Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter (R-West Islip) told The Messenger. “During the early stages of this project, I suggested they meet with residents and local civic organizations. The result of those meetings is an environmentally-friendly development of repurposed 100-year-old buildings that maintain the character of their original facades and have been retrofitted to offer state-of-the-art luxury living. The Belmont at Eastview sits on 83.41 acres of natural green spaces, and offers walking, biking, and fitness trails; dog parks within the community; picnic areas and barbecues and is adjacent to the Town of Islip’s beautiful Gull Haven Golf Course and a short fifteen-minute drive to Long Island MacArthur Airport.”
Supervisor Carpenter also heralded the lease incentives for first responders, which delivers the first month of rent free to eligible tenants. The property also boasts a workforce housing initiative, capped at 80% of area median income (AMI).
“The Belmont at Eastview is a unique development. There are mixed-use developments of varying size, scope, and provisions currently in different stages throughout the Town of Islip,” continued Supervisor Carpenter, hinting at similar developments throughout the Town.
Senator Monica Martinez (D-Brentwood) also spoke with The Messenger about the transformative development in her district.
“The Belmont at Eastview addresses a crucial housing need in Suffolk County by offering diverse living options, including affordable units, in a development that balances luxury with accessibility,” said Martinez. “As Long Island continues to grow, the redevelopment of existing sites, both residential and commercial, will play a key role in sustaining vibrant communities while preserving the region’s suburban character. Recent state support for redevelopment projects, including the $4.5 million grant awarded to the Village of Lindenhurst, highlights the need for repurposing existing sites to accommodate new growth. This funding aims to create a vibrant, walkable downtown that meets the needs of both residents and businesses, setting a strong precedent for future revitalization efforts.”
The Messenger toured the grounds, as well as a two-bedroom and one-bedroom unit. We can easily say that the units are much more spacious than one would assume from the exterior. Both apartments feature in-unit laundry appliances, full kitchens and bathrooms, comfortable living rooms, and cozy bedrooms, all fully furnished. Door locks also feature a touch-screen lock that residents can set with their passcode once they sign a lease.
The campus also provides twenty-four-hour emergency maintenance and site surveillance, as well as individual HVAC units per unit, a movie theatre, a marketplace with coffee bar, a fitness center with yoga and aerobics studios, dog parks, a self-service package pickup room, and a resort-style sun deck at the pool.
Rates start at around $2000 monthly, and although the units are 80% leased, you can go online to https://livebelmonteastview.com/residences/ to view the offerings yourself.
The Belmont at Eastview is located at 300 Carleton Avenue in Central Islip.
