Leewood Group, Seymour Sadkin offering Coney Island home/retail opportunities.

In an effort to rebuild "Mom & Pop" stores as an economic anchor in the community, eight buildings with ground-floor retail space and two residential units on the upper floors are now for sale on Mermaid Avenue in Coney Island between West 24th and West 26th streets.

The units will be sold to entrepreneurs who want to operate a neighborhood retail outlet, and who will live in one of the units on the upper floors. The project is a development of Leewood Real Estate Group, the co-developer, along with Seymour Sadkin, who is creating Mermaid Commons, LLC, and is part of the Alliance for Neighborhood Commerce Home ownership (ANCHOR)/-Partnership Plaza Program - a joint effort of the City of New York and New York City Housing Partnership.

"These buildings are a prototype for a new housing/commercial initiative to be expanded to all of the boroughs, if successful, which it already is, given that 50 percent of the units have been sold," said R. Randy Lee, president and CEO of Leewood Real Estate Group. "Families and individuals will be required to open or expand an existing home-based or small business. We are pleased to be working with the City in the redevelopment of Coney Island and look forward to the success of the revitalized Mermaid Avenue."

Each building will be three stories high, with a 1,200 square-foot, three-bedroom owner's unit on the second floor connecting to a 1,000 square-foot ground floor storefront retail space. In addition, there is a 1,200 square-foot, three-bedroom rental unit on the top floor.

The buildings are being sold for $274,000. Factoring in the rent from the third floor, it is estimated that the net monthly carrying costs will be $1,055 - making the homes affordable. The income range for qualified purchasers is a total of $48,000. Construction starts in the Spring of this year, and occupancy is slated for Winter 2000/2001.

The marketing agent for the mixed-use buildings is Astella Development Corp.