First Walls Installed at Alexan Apartment Complex

The foundation for a new beginning on the old Courtesy Hotel site was installed in West Hempstead this week.

Amid the dirt and rubble remaining from the seedy establishment that was , construction workers placed the first foundation walls for the 150-unit Alexan apartment complex that is being erected at the site.

Maria Rigopoulos, the regional managing director for Mill Creek Residential, the developer who purchased the property from the Courtesy's owners, told residents in March that she estimates it will take 20 months of construction complete the project. The first units of the luxury apartment complex could be delivered around September 2012. Rents would be set around that time too.

“In 2011..you’re not going to see a lot of vertical activity," she said at the March meeting of the West Hempstead Community Support and Civic Association.  

Still, after more than a decade of fighting to close the Courtesy Hotel and take back a portion of their community that had become infested with crime, West Hempstead residents can savor this small piece of progress.