Small businesses fear Farmingdale developer will push them out

<p>A proposed mixed-use apartment complex in downtown Farmingdale has raised complaints from some residents.&nbsp;</p>

News 12 Staff

Apr 9, 2018, 9:37 PM

Updated 2,434 days ago

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A proposed mixed-use apartment complex in downtown Farmingdale has raised complaints from some residents.
Staller Associates wants to build the Loft -- a 54-unit apartment building with commercial storefronts on Main Street where the old CVS store was.
Residents like John Filagrossi say the mixed-use project would mean the end for the area's mom and pop businesses.
Filagrossi has been working at his family's Gino's Pizzeria since he was 12.
"My father started it," he says. "We're here 37 years. It's a long time to be in one town, watch families grow up."
Filagrossi says that if the village board approves the Loft, it would mean his pizzeria and the printing business next door would get knocked down.
                                                                                                                                                                                 
"I'm being pushed out," says Jeffrey Miller, the owner of the Minuteman Press for 30 years. "It's going to happen no matter what...My lease is up."
Another snag holding up the issue is the area's limited parking. The village says Staller's plan falls three spaces short of what the code requires for a building of the project's size.