When it came to living on Long Island, Renee Mendoza, a 36-year-old consultant, thought of houses and lawns. But when she moved here from San Jose, California, last summer, she also liked the idea of an apartment surrounded by sidewalks, stores and restaurants.
“I’m a single person and I liked the dynamic of an apartment building instead of a house,” Mendoza said in her apartment in The Core Station Yards in Ronkonkoma. “There’s the convenience of things in the building.”
She likes her building’s gym, fitness center and yoga studio, as well as restaurants, retail and the Ronkonkoma Long Island Rail Road station nearby.
On Long Island, cars have long been king and housing has usually meant houses. But for younger generations, including some who can’t afford a Manhattan apartment or a house in the suburbs yet, transit-oriented developments, or TODs, are giving them the best of both worlds.
And for older residents, living in an apartment where they don’t have to take care of all the maintenance themselves and get the benefits of community can be appealing.
Experts say TOD, at least today’s version, helps fill a housing void on the Island, allowing young people to move and live here, and giving older residents another option.
“Young people want to have this lifestyle where they’re near a train station, in an apartment,” said Matthew Cohen, CEO of Long Island Association, a nonprofit business organization. “It’s a tool in the tool kit to make Long Island appealing to young people.”
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