On Long Island the property underwriter starts with distance to the water and the wind deductible, and the liability underwriter starts with the parking lot and who is allowed to do construction work on the premises. I place the buildings, loss of rents, the owner’s liability and the umbrella for neighborhood centers and strip malls from Elmont to Riverhead, and I ask for the leases and vendor contracts first.
What changes when the center is in Nassau or Suffolk
- Distance to waterSouth shore bays, the forks and the Sound side are rated differently, and flood is always its own policy.
- Wind deductibleNassau and Suffolk are among the counties where percentage hurricane or named-storm deductibles are common.
- The lotAlmost every Long Island center is a parking lot with stores behind it. Ice, potholes, lighting and crime in the lot drive the liability claims.
- Town or villageRules come from the town, or from the incorporated village if the property is inside one. They differ on vacant buildings and on cannabis retail.
- ContractorsTenant build-outs, roofers and sign crews bring the scaffold law onto the owner’s policy.
The statewide law is covered on my New York shopping center page. This page is about what is specific to the Island.
Wind, Sandy and the long hurricane record
The National Weather Service’s New York office keeps a page on the hurricane of September 21, 1938, which struck Long Island moving at 47 miles per hour, brought sustained hurricane-force winds to central and eastern Long Island and cut ten new inlets between Fire Island and East Hampton, Shinnecock Inlet among them. That storm is why wind underwriters treat Suffolk the way they do.
Sandy in 2012 was a water event. The National Hurricane Center’s report puts inundation at 3 to 6 feet above ground across Nassau and Suffolk, with a 4.6-foot high-water mark in Freeport and 3 to 4 feet in Long Beach, Jones Beach and Massapequa. The airport at Islip recorded a gust of 78 knots. The state’s insurance regulator announced at the time that hurricane deductibles were not triggered, because Sandy did not have sustained hurricane-force winds when it reached New York, and that flood damage was covered only by flood insurance.
Two lessons for a center owner:
- Read the trigger. The Department of Financial Services describes homeowners hurricane deductibles in Nassau, Suffolk, the five boroughs and coastal Westchester as commonly 1 to 5 percent of the insured amount, and optional windstorm deductibles that apply to wind of any speed. That guidance is written for homeowners. A commercial policy uses its own named-storm or wind and hail wording, and on a multi-building center you need to know whether the percentage applies per building or per location. How hurricane deductibles work in New York.
- Buy flood separately. Surge is flood. It is excluded from the property policy and insured through the National Flood Insurance Program or private flood insurers, usually with an excess layer for a center of any size. New York flood risk and the NFIP.
If the standard market will not write the wind
The New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association is the state’s residual property market, and it does write commercial buildings and the contents of commercial premises. Its basic form covers fire and extended coverage perils, including wind and hurricane. Its Broad Form policies carry a 2 percent hurricane deductible in Nassau, Suffolk and six other downstate counties, which applies when a Category 2 or stronger hurricane makes landfall anywhere in the state.
The limits are what make it a backstop instead of a program. NYPIUA says its policies are generally written at actual cash value, do not include liability, flood or theft, and are capped by occupancy and construction under Article 54 of the Insurance Law at amounts well below what a multi-tenant center costs to rebuild. It also turns away vacant buildings that are not boarded to its standards or alarmed, and buildings with open code violations affecting occupancy. I try the admitted and surplus lines markets first, and if NYPIUA has to carry part of the wind, the liability, loss of rents and the rest of the building value are placed around it.
Parking lots, ice and security
Ice. New York’s storm-in-progress rule, restated by the Court of Appeals in Sherman v. New York State Thruway Authority (2016), says a landowner is not liable for an icy condition during an ongoing storm or for a reasonable time afterward. What happens after that reasonable time is the owner’s problem, and usually only the owner’s. In Espinal v. Melville Snow Contractors (2002) a worker who fell in a plowed parking lot sued the plow company, and the Court of Appeals held the contractor owed her no duty. A contractor answers to third parties only in three situations: it launched a force or instrument of harm, the injured person relied on its continued performance, or it entirely displaced the owner’s duty to maintain the premises. Plowing and leaving some ice behind did not qualify.
In practice the claim stays with the center. Your snow contract should say who decides when to salt, and it should require the contractor to indemnify you and name you as an additional insured.
Security. Nallan v. Helmsley-Spear (1980) is still the starting point: an owner is not an insurer of visitors’ safety, but one who knows or has reason to know from past experience that crime on the premises is likely has to take reasonable precautions. Incident logs, lighting and camera coverage are underwriting questions for that reason.
Fault is shared, not barred. Under CPLR 1411 a plaintiff’s own negligence does not bar recovery; it only reduces the damages in proportion. A shopper who was mostly at fault can still collect a share, which is one reason New York liability limits and a commercial umbrella are sized generously.
Parking decks. A surface lot on grade is outside the state’s parking garage rule. A structured deck is not: 19 NYCRR 1203.3 requires a condition assessment by a professional engineer at least every three years, reported to the local code authority.
Town rules: empty storefronts and dispensaries
These are from the Town of Hempstead code, which governs the unincorporated town; villages and other towns have their own.
- Vacant building registryChapter 99 requires an owner to register within 30 days after a building, or a portion of one, becomes a vacant building as the code defines it, for example unoccupied and boarded, unoccupied and unsafe, or unoccupied more than a year with an open correction order. Registration includes a vacant building plan and a cash undertaking, set higher for commercial property.
- Vacant retail standardsChapter 95 adds rules for vacant commercial and retail buildings: clean window display areas, signs, awnings and lighting kept operable and safe, and a clear two-square-foot opening in any window covering so the interior can be seen.
- Cannabis opt-outThe Town opted out of adult-use retail dispensaries and on-site consumption in its unincorporated areas. The State Comptroller found Long Island had the highest opt-out share of any region, 83 percent of municipalities.
Insurers care about vacancy for their own reasons. Most property policies restrict coverage once a building has been largely vacant for a stated period, so tell me when an anchor leaves. How vacant buildings are insured.
On cannabis, an unlicensed shop is the landlord’s exposure. The Office of Cannabis Management says a landlord outside New York City who has been notified and keeps renting to an unlicensed seller faces a penalty of five times the rent, and the premises can be padlocked for a year.
Leases, contractors and liquor
- Scaffold law. Labor Law 240(1) puts the duty to provide proper scaffolds, ladders and hoists on “all contractors and owners and their agents,” exempting only owners of one- and two-family dwellings who do not direct the work. A fall during a tenant’s build-out or a roof repair can reach the center’s owner. Control who works on the property and collect certificates before they start.
- Lease exculpation. General Obligations Law 5-321 voids a lease clause that exempts the landlord from liability for its own negligence in operating or maintaining the property. Insurance requirements and additional insured status do the work that clause cannot.
- Bars and restaurants. General Obligations Law 11-101 gives an injured person a claim against whoever unlawfully sold or helped procure the liquor. That is the tenant, not a landlord who sells nothing, but the owner is still named in premises suits. Require liquor liability from every tenant that pours.
The owner’s side is usually written as lessor’s risk, with loss of rents sized to the rent roll and ordinance or law coverage for rebuilding an older center to current code.
What to send me
- Addresses, the town or village, year built, construction, roof age and square footage by building.
- Distance to the nearest bay, ocean or Sound shoreline, flood zone, and any Sandy damage and repairs.
- Tenant schedule with uses, hours, vacancies and how long each vacant unit has been empty.
- Leases’ insurance and alteration clauses, tenant certificates and additional insured endorsements.
- Snow, security and maintenance contracts with the vendors’ certificates.
- Current declarations pages, including the wind or named-storm deductible and any labor law wording on the liability policy.
- Five years of loss runs and the parking lot’s incident history.
Common questions
Who insures strip malls and shopping centers on Long Island?
Admitted commercial insurers write many inland centers, and surplus lines insurers take properties close to the water or with harder liability histories. As an independent broker I approach both and place flood separately.
Why does my Long Island shopping center have a percentage wind deductible?
Nassau and Suffolk are coastal counties where insurers commonly apply hurricane, named-storm or wind deductibles as a percentage of the insured value. Check what triggers it and whether it applies per building or per location.
Did hurricane deductibles apply to Sandy on Long Island?
New York’s regulator announced in 2012 that hurricane deductibles were not triggered because Sandy lacked sustained hurricane-force winds when it reached New York. Most of the damage was surge, which only flood insurance covers.
Will NYPIUA insure a commercial building in Nassau or Suffolk County?
It writes commercial buildings and contents for fire and extended coverage, including wind, but generally at actual cash value, with statutory limits and no liability, flood or theft coverage. It is a backstop, not a full program.
If my snow contractor plowed the lot, who gets sued when someone falls on ice?
Usually the owner. Under Espinal v. Melville Snow Contractors a plow contractor owes the injured person a duty only in three narrow situations, so your contract should require indemnity and additional insured status.
Do I have to register an empty storefront in the Town of Hempstead?
Only if it meets the town’s definition of a vacant building, such as unoccupied and boarded or unsafe, or unoccupied over a year with an open correction order. Then registration is due within 30 days, with a plan and an undertaking.
Can I lease to a cannabis dispensary in a Long Island strip mall?
It depends on the town or village. The Town of Hempstead opted out of retail dispensaries in its unincorporated areas, and most Long Island municipalities did the same, so confirm local status and the tenant’s state license before signing.
General information about insuring shopping centers and strip malls in Nassau and Suffolk counties as of November 2026, not legal advice. Town and village codes differ and change, as do statutes, case law and policy wording; confirm local requirements with the town or village and your duties as an owner with New York counsel. Coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued.