Site of future Lindenhurst Courthouse today

An aging industrial building on a key downtown corner in this south shore Village is being transformed into a new Suffolk County 2nd District Court. The relocation of the court, currently in Deer Park is the result of a complex deal arranged by Jerry Guerra of the Syosset-based commercial real estate firm Paragon Group LLC.

The building at 30 E. Hoffman Ave., on the corner of Wellwood Avenue, last used as an electronics repair shop and originally a milk plant and then factory that produced mayonnaise, has been leased to Suffolk County for 20 years by Irace Realty, which will provide the county with a turnkey 21,500-square-foot traditional court house.

The new court house is part of a downtown revitalization effort that will include the razing of an existing industrial building on an adjacent property to create additional parking for the court and a front lawn for the new courthouse.

The new courthouse will have a grand courtroom to accommodate 120 people, two auxiliary hearing rooms, each accommodating 50 people, and a two-story lobby. The court, one of six district courts in Suffolk County, hears small claims cases and landlord-tenant disputes.

Proposed Lindenhurst Courthouse

"This is a great revitalization opportunity,’’ said Paragon partner Jerry Guerra, a Babylon Village resident who arranged the transaction. The Village of Lindenhurst, he noted, "removed an eye sore at the center of its town park and instead created a central focal point."

A new county downtown revitalization program figured into the court’s relocation.

"It’s important to our downtowns that institutions like our courts are there. Downtowns need people," said S.C. Leg. David Bishop, who was instrumental in resolving issues concerning parking and the other industrial building and arranged for the Village to obtaining a grant through the County’s Downtown Revitalization Capital Fund Program to condemn the other building and raze it. Bishop also arranged for another grant to create the additional parking space.

"The new courthouse will really be an asset to the Lindenhurst community and with the adjacent park we’re really creating a terrific public space," said Bishop.

The Village of Lindenhurst condemned the property adjacent to the site of the new courthouse, razed a building there and will be using the site for additional parking. Village Administrator Shawn Cullinane said Village officials are happy with the outcome. "It will be a good looking building right in the heart of downtown providing a good community service" he said.

Initially the proposal raised some public controversy because residents were concerned that the courthouse would bring people facing criminal charges into the area. "The biggest concern was that this would be a criminal court," said Cullinane. "In fact it is not a criminal court and will handle civil cases only."

Those cases would include landlord-tenant disputes, traffic violations and violations of local ordinances.

The 2nd District court currently is located at 375 Commack Rd. in Deer Park, where it shared space with a bank. ‘Putting courts in strip malls is an old notion," Bishop added.

The deal also pleased the landlord owner of the building, Steve Irace of Irace Realty in Garden City.

"It’s always nice having a government agency on a 20 year lease," he said.