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SCAN ME!
Neighbors unite to clean parks and preserves By AllYSoN FERRARI aferrari@liherald.com
Courtesy Office Assemblywoman Judy Griffin
Nassau County legislators Debra Mulé and Scott Davis joined student volunteers during the May 3 Earth Day community cleanup organized at parks across Baldwin and Freeport.
Dozens of volunteers fanned out across four parks in Freeport and Baldwin on May 3 to collect litter, clear debris and spruce up public green spaces in recognition of Earth Day on April 22. Many of the volunteer efforts were originally scheduled for April 25, but were scheduled due to adverse weather conditions. Hosted by Assemblywoman Judy Griffin, State Sen. Siela Bynoe and Nassau County legislators Debra Mulé and Scott Davis, the cleanup campaign brought residents, students and civic groups together at Milburn Creek Park, Brookside Preserve, Silver Lake Park and Lofts Pond Park. By the end of the day, volunteers had collected more than 58 bags of garbage along with several bulk items, organizers said. Participants included members of Girl Scouts of Nassau County’s Freeport Service Unit, Boy Scout Troop CoNtiNuED oN pagE 3
$2.2 million home sets new Freeport housing record By ANDREW FRANCIS afrancis@liherald.com
A home at 894 S. Long Beach Ave., in Freeport, has become the most expensive house ever sold in the village, at a price of $2.175 million. The sale of the three-level waterfront house is indicative of the rising home values in the area, even amid widespread concer n about affordability on Long Island. Agents Joshua Mohamed and Laura Chattoo, of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, worked with the homeowner, Mathews Benjamin Abraham, to sell the property, but breaking the saleprice record necessitated some
creative marketing tactics. The house was built in 1942, but underwent extensive renovations and development that multiplied its value. According to public records, Abraham purchased the home for a little more than $1 million, and had more than doubled its value thanks to the renovations. “It’s very hard to find waterfront properties like that,” Mohamed said when asked what made the home so valuable. “This one was recently renovated — in 2023 it was completed. It’s flood-compliant, so that means it was raised. The basement area, which is about 2,500 square feet, is literally an
unused garage, and you can do whatever you want to it.” Mohamed explained that a house of this size and location typically requires high-cost flood insurance. But because the previous owner undertook such large-scale renovations to make it much less likely to flood, the new owner will pay less than $800 annually for flood insurance, compared with the owners of neighboring homes, many of whom pay over $5,000 per year. Chattoo noted that despite the fact that top-end homes in Freeport do not have the skyhigh values of those in nearby villages — like Merrick, where,
the agents say, a house like this one would sell for nearly $1 million more — the record-setting home and others like it are increasing Free por t’s real estate marketability. “It’s in Freeport and it’s comparable to homes in Merrick and Baldwin Harbor — like, the luxury homes,” Chattoo said.
Before they began offering the home in 2024, the agents said, the property had been listed by a “prestige” real estate agent, and went unsold for over a year. The property was originally listed at nearly $2.25 million, $500,000 more than the previous village record. But thanks to some outside-the-box CoNtiNuED oN pagE 7