Arden Heights, Staten Island
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Arden Heights is a name increasingly applied to the western part of Annadale, a neighborhood located on the South Shore of Staten Island, New York City, USA. The name "Arden Heights" is found on most maps of New York City, including Hagstrom's.
Arden Heights is bordered by Annadale to the east, Huguenot to the south, the Arthur Kill to the west, and the Fresh Kills to the north.
History
Erastus Wiman, a noted Staten Island real estate developer, coined the name "Arden Heights" in 1886; the neighborhood's name probably refers to the hill that currently looms above the Village Greens shopping center and housing development. (The moniker does not refer to the now-shuttered Fresh Kills Landfill, at the western end of Arden Avenue. The landfill did not exist until the mid-20th Century.)
Long noted for being the site of St. Michael's Home For Children, a
In 1982, the Saint Michael's orphanage, situated off Arthur Kill Road, closed, with some land on which it stood being sold to developers (who have since built the
Village Greens
The Greens feature clustered townhomes built around looped streets – one way in, one way out. Off the main thoroughfares of Arden Avenue and Arthur Kill Road, these streets – Hampton Green, Forest Green, Dover Green, Avon Green, and Carlyle Green – provides a relatively traffic-free environment, making Village Greens a unique place to live in an otherwise overdeveloped Staten Island. (Some Greens feature detached homes, which naturally fetch a higher market price than the townhomes, which are often clustered eight apiece.) Architectural guidelines and exterior home inspections by the Village Greens Homeowners Association have helped the community maintain its appearance.
Another "Green" – namely Rolling Hill Green – was built on land intended for the Village Greens but, for reasons unknown (some conjecture that the developers ran out of cash and construction workers) were never built. These "Greens" have their own recreational facilities.
A shopping center was simultaneously developed to serve the residents of Village Greens, as well as a New York City public elementary school; Village Greens also features a 16-acre (65,000 m2) common park, featuring expanses of green grass, trees and – most astonishingly – two Olympic-sized swimming pools; all maintained through Village Greens Homeowners Association's relatively low common charges. Today, the project stands at the center of a community bearing its own identity, separate from that of Annadale.
A large percentage of the residents of the development — and the many single-family homes that have since been built around it — are
About a mile north of the "Greens" is the
Transportation
Arden Heights is served by the
Arden Heights does not have a station on the Staten Island Railway, but it can be reached at the Annadale station via the S55 bus.[1]
Education
Arden Heights is served by the I.S.75 intermediate school. www.IS75.org
Public libraries
New York Public Library operates the Huguenot Park Branch, which serves Arden Heights and other neighborhoods, at 830 Huguenot Avenue at Drumgoole Road East. The branch opened in January 1985.[2]
Notable residents
- Jason Marquis – Washington Nationals All Star starting pitcher; though born in Manhasset, New York, he was raised in Arden Heights and attended Tottenville High School, whose baseball team he pitched to two New York City championships.
References
- ^ a b "Staten Island Bus Map" (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. January 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
- ^ "Huguenot Park Branch." New York Public Library. Retrieved on December 22, 2008.
| North Shore (Community District 1) |
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| Mid-Island (Community District 2) |
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