By: Jordan Baker

A long-contested proposal to redevelop the former Woodmere Country Club in Hempstead Township may finally move forward — this time with a significantly scaled-down plan geared toward luxury senior living, the New York Post reports.

New Jersey-based developers Robert Weiss and Efrem Gerszberg have spent nearly ten years in an on-and-off struggle with local villages—including Woodsburgh, Lawrence, and Woodmere—over their vision for the 117-acre parcel once prized as an upscale Long Island retreat. Back in 2017, they purchased the defunct club, initially proposing roughly 300 single-family homes. However, heavy resistance and extensive legal pushback from host communities forced a rethink.

Their latest iteration: a smaller-scale luxury senior-living facility carved into 34 acres of the site. They’re seeking to rezone that northern portion to permit their project, while preserving 50 acres as protected open space and designating an additional 5 acres for a public park. This approach, proponents argue, strikes a better balance between community needs and development goals , NY Post reported.

At a recent zoning hearing, Mayor Jake Harman of Woodsburgh praised the revised proposal. “In nearly a decade, we’ve seen several proposals — many of which didn’t align with the surrounding community,” Harman said, adding that the new plan “preserves a significant amount of landscaped open space and meets the needs of our aging population” .

That sentiment reflects growing recognition among local officials that compromise may be the only feasible resolution after eight state and two federal lawsuits tied the property—and taxpayers—in knots. The prolonged litigation, which challenged earlier zoning restrictions, has drawn criticism for burdening municipal coffers with hefty legal fees and delaying any meaningful use of the land, NY Post reported.

Originally, Hempstead imposed a moratorium on major development in 2016, intended to halt residential projects. It added a Coastal Conservation District overlay the same year, tightly limiting construction to just 59 single-family homes while safeguarding 83 acres as natural greenspace . Weiss and Gerszberg responded with legal action, prompting court challenges.

At the hearing, the developers’ attorney, former state Senator Jack Martins, emphasized the comparative downsides of the current zoning. “The land’s current designation allows 59 large homes, new roads, real infrastructure burdens — which is not nothing,” he said. “Their revised plan offers a better outcome for traffic, parking, environmental impact, and the community as a whole” .

Key details: the senior-living facility would replace the original single-family home concept, focusing traffic and parking within a controlled campus footprint. The preserved green space—over 50 acres—would maintain the site’s character and environmental integrity, winning plaudits from both community members and environmental advocates .

While the hearing showed strong support for the developers’ pitch, it wasn’t without tough questions—particularly surrounding increased density, infrastructure strain, and long-term impacts on property taxes and municipal services. Still, town officials appear inclined to back the compromise, seeing it as a path to settle the endless litigation and put the land to productive use.

Mounting legal costs and rising public impatience have meant a resolution is in high demand. With regulatory and zoning hurdles surrounding the former country club expected to be the last major obstacle, the proposal stands a good chance of securing final approval in the near future .

If approved, the development would transform a once-exclusive private club into a vibrant senior-living community—complete with services, open spaces, and a small public park—ushering in a new chapter for the long-debated Woodmere site.