Avalon Garden City Owner: Complex Suffered Minimal Damage in Fire

The owners of the East Garden City apartment complex that caught fire Wednesday says the damage to the development was minimal thanks to the efforts of local firefighters.

AvalonBay Communities, Inc., which owns the Avalon Garden City complex on Stewart Avenue that is currently under construction, issued a statement Thursday in response to the April 11 blaze.

"Thanks to the rapid and efficient response of the Uniondale Fire Department, damage at our Avalon Garden City construction site was confined to a single building under construction," said Matthew Whalen, vice president for Development. (Uniondale received assistance from nine other local departments including South Hempstead, East Meadow and Garden City.)

Nassau County Police later determined that a worker at the construction site accidentally started the fire, which Whalen explained destroyed one building and its 15 partially constructed units.  

"The fire-damaged building will be rebuilt, with construction on it beginning immediately," he added. "We expect the costs related to the fire damage to be largely covered by insurance.  More importantly, there was no damage or impact on the single completed building on the site, which is home to a number of residents.  We are very relieved that no residents were injured or otherwise affected by the blaze."

According to Garden City Fire Chief Charles Cavarra, nobody was in the buildings when the fire broke out. 

Whalen said the leasing office will reopen Friday, April 13, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will continue to serve prospective residents, show model apartments and execute leases on new apartment homes. 

"We have been very pleased with the reception the market has given Avalon Garden City thus far, and we do not anticipate any further disruption to the lease-up process going forward," he added.

Construction on Avalon Garden City began in the summer of 2011. The 224- apartment complex is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.

“We again wish to express our gratitude to the emergency responders, especially to the firefighters, one of whom was apparently injured in the performance of his duty," Whalen said. "Their valor and professionalism not only minimized damage to our site with no injuries to our residents, but also enabled us to go back to business as usual within 48 hours of the incident. We are truly grateful."