Gina Wood Check out this article. Amazing how much home value has increased in just over a decade. If Youre Thinking of Living In/Williston Park, N.Y.; Happiness Homes, Long Before Levitt By JOHN RATHER Published: May 21, 2000 The New York Times BEFORE there was a Levittown on Long Island, there was a Williston Park. A full 20 years before William J. Levitt began churning out compact Capes at the rate of 30 a day for the exploding post-World War II housing market, William F. Chatlos had erected 1,000 one-family Dutch colonials on 40-by-100-foot lots in what became the village of Williston Park in 1926. Marketed as Happiness Homes, the sturdy yet simple two-story wood houses, all with attics and basements, rose at the rate of just one a day, plodding by Levittown standards. They came in five styles and lined streets with alphabetized collegiate names like Amherst, Brown and Cornell. To avoid visual monotony, architectural elements were reversed on some houses, and others were turned sideways on their lots. As Mr. Chatlos anticipated, the development quickly attracted city dwellers, many from Brooklyn, who took the short trip eastward on the Long Island Rail Road. The last station on the electrified portion of the Oyster Bay line, then as now, was East Williston, right at the villages doorstep. The 1920s Chatlos houses -- which had a living room, dining room and kitchen downstairs and three bedrooms and one bath upstairs -- remain the core of the housing stock. Today, Williston Park is a modest yet substantial middle-income community of single-family homes with prices and taxes that are low by Nassau County standards. Midtown is only 22 miles away by train or car. Williston Park is one of the few places in the metropolitan area that has maintained its character for the past 75 years, said Roger F. Fay, a former mayor and the villages unpaid co-historian. Mr. Fay said that the well-built Chatlos houses were readily modernized inside, and few if any have remained unaltered. But those with original exteriors are still easy to find. Finding one thats actually for sale is more the problem. The story now about houses is that there arent many, and prices are through the roof, said Evelyn L. Atanas, a broker who owns Atanas Realty on Hillside Avenue. Ms. Atanas, who grew up in the village, said prices for Chatlos homes have now exceeded $300,000, while prices for brick Tudors built in the 1930s and for some of the newer colonials, Capes and split-levels built in the 50s, 60s and 70s were even higher. Other brokers agreed the market was surging. We have an abundance of customers and a scarcity of houses, said Enza Alia, who owns Coldwell Banker A 1 Advantage Real Estate, also on Hillside Avenue. We sell them in a day. Still, even with prices rising, the village remains popular with first-time buyers. We still have people moving in from Queens, and a lot of our sales are to people who rent in the area, said Joseph M. Pimenta, a broker at Century 21 Laffey, also on Hillside. Erica Weisfelner, an art teacher, and her husband, David, a media planner, moved into a Chatlos house two years ago from an apartment in Bethpage. Mrs. Weisfelner said they were looking for an alternative to split-level living in Plainview, where they both grew up, and found it in Williston Park. We are so in love with this community, she said. We have the most wonderful neighbors. We feel like we are in a movie. Were waiting for the real people to come out. The Weisfelners, both 29, paid $240,000 for their house and have made some renovations, including roof repairs and new siding. It was a great investment, Mrs. Weisfelner said. Right after we bought we saw the prices going up, up, up. BROKERS said that young couples like the Weisfelners who are planning families and the grown children of village residents are frequent buyers. Mr. Fay said the village has long been popular with police officers and New York City firefighters. Some rentals are available in the scattering of two-family houses, most of them converted from one-family houses just after World War II. In the 1960s the village restricted such conversions but allowed any existing two-families to remain. Rents average about $1,000 a month for one-bedroom units with separate entrances. At Williston House, the only apartment complex in the village, with 199 units built in the late 1960s, one-bedrooms rent for $1,000 a month and two-bedrooms for $1,150; there are currently no vacancies. The apartments are popular with older village residents who have sold their homes, Mr. Fay said. Commercial areas along Hillside Avenue will get new sidewalks, ornamental street lights and brickwork, new trash receptacles and trees as part of Operation Downtown, just getting under way. The $800,000 project is being financed by the county, state and federal governments. Raymond J. Haller, the president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Willistons, said the project would help the commercial areas compete at a time when the Internet, the dot-coms and what have you were draining some of their vitality and leaving a scattering of empty stores. But Mr. Haller, who grew up in the village, said the popularity of the commercial district, with some 300 stores, restaurants and professional offices, was really not in doubt. In fact, the International House of Pancakes on Hillside Avenue is one of the busiest restaurants in the chain, he said. In a village notable for its unified appearance, the school district line running north-south down Willis Avenue is the great divider. To the west, residents are in the Herricks school district, among the elite of Long Islands public schools and coveted enough to add thousands to the price of a home. To the east, houses fall within the academically less exalted Mineola school district. In the Herricks district, with an enrollment of 3,946, virtually all graduating seniors go on to college. The average College Board scores for the 311-member class of 2000 were 588 in math and 533 in verbal. The combined total of 1121 is more than 100 points above state and national averages. Herricks students have consistently scored in the top 3 percent on state standardized tests, the district said. The district has three elementary schools, one of which is in Williston Park, a middle school and a high school where 14 advanced-placement courses are offered. Dr. Ronald Barnes, the interim superintendent, described Herricks as a very accomplished district with high academic standards, where emphasis was placed on arts and music programs. There are computers in every classroom, and each school building has at least one computer lab. THE Mineola district, with 2,908 students and 187 graduates in the class of 2000, has four elementary schools, one of which is in Williston Park, a middle school and a high school with one of the largest student-exchange programs in the state. The average College Board scores this year were 494 in math and 485 in verbal, slightly below state and national averages. John Collins, a school spokesman, said the high school offered a full range of advanced-placement courses and was proud of its excellent performing- and fine-arts department. He said nearly a third of all high school students took part in community-service programs. The district has summer programs in athletics and music and for students with learning disabilities. There are computer labs in every building. A $25.7 million bond issue, to be voted upon on June 20, includes money for computers in all classrooms. St. Aidan School, a Roman Catholic elementary school in Williston Park, has an enrollment of 605 students, nursery through the eighth grade. Tuition for kindergarten through the eighth grade is $2,227 for parishioners and $3,183 for others. The prekindergarten program is $2,052 for three days a week or $2,309 for five days. The nursery school is $1,085 for a three-day-a-week program. An Olympic-sized outdoor public pool, open from June 18 through Labor Day, is next to Kelleher Park. A season pass is $210 for a family, $165 for a couple and $135 for an individual. People 65 and older pay $50. Fees are higher for nonresidents. The park has a Little League ball field, a playground, basketball courts and a roller hockey rink. Williston Park takes its name from the Willis family that owned large tracts of land in the Town of North Hempstead. Willises began farming in what is now Williston Park during the 1800s. As late as 1920, the Williston Park area was still largely agricultural. The only store sold carriages, wagons and agricultural implements. Then Mr. Chatlos came along, bought 195 acres in 1926 and began building his houses. By 1930, the village population was 4,427. It peaked at 9,154 in 1970 and has since declined modestly. Now it appears to be increasing again. There are a lot of young families moving in, said Mr. Fay, the broker. I would say its on the way up again.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 05:43:10 +0000
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