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Wyandanch Rising

Babylon, NY, USA

2015 Charter Award, Congress for New Urbanism, 2015 Merit Award, American Institute of Architects

A large park added to Wyandanch Village.

Client

Town of Babylon

Collaborators

Torti Gallas & Partners, Olin Partnership

Timeline

2009 - 2014

Category

Transit Oriented Developments

Budget

$400 million

Scale

120 acres

Status

Half completed

Reference

Ann Marie Jones, Former Commissioner of Planning & Development

Now well into implementation, the plan for downtown Wyandanch replaces empty lots, decrepit buildings, and surface parking lots with a walkable, mixed-use town center.

Speck Dempsey (then Speck & Associates) was retained by the Town of Babylon to create a vision plan for a Transit-Oriented Redevelopment surrounding the Wyandanch stop of the Long Island Railroad. This effort was completed simultaneously with the drafting of an RFP to select a larger design team to further develop the plan to an architectural scale. This effort contributed to the receipt of a $1.5 million planning grant from New York State. Speck Dempsey then assisted the Town in the selection of that design team and helped to lead the subsequent urban design charrette.


Wyandanch is historically the most underserved community on Long Island. This plan takes advantage of the active railroad stop to anchor a new medium-density mixed-use community of approximately one million square feet. A plaza enfronts the train station, and a new main street leads north into a residential precinct that is centered on its own community green. To the south, a central green, modeled on Boston’s Commonwealth Avenue, refocuses the neighborhood across the tracks back towards the revitalized center.

Subsequent to the completion of the above plan, Speck Dempsey assisted the Town in its bid to select a master developer and guide that developer’s work. The first phase of construction is now complete, and includes a monumental stair tower designed by Jeff Speck.

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