By GREGORY ZELLER //
A 22-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes package approved by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency will help a new luxury hotel rise in Jericho.
The Jericho Plaza Hotel – a 113,815-square-foot hotel and conference center on roughly six acres of underutilized land at the intersection of State Route 25 and the Long Island Expressway – figures to be a $56 million investment by Jericho-based consultancy Oxford Hospitality USA and other investors.
The 5.88 acres on which it will be built is currently covered by a largely vacant parking lot, a use that promises only $9.2 million in property tax revenues over the next two decades-plus. While saving property owners millions of dollars in taxes – and thereby triggering the construction project – the 22-year PILOT program will still generate $14.9 million in total tax revenues, according to the IDA.
It will also allow JP Optionee – the LLC that will actually develop, construct and operate the new Jericho Plaza Hotel – to create 52 full-time equivalent jobs, on top of an estimated 231 construction-phase jobs.
Harry Coghlan: Poised for success.
All told, the project is projected to generate an $86.4 million regional economic impact, with significant tax-revenue increases moving forward, according to the IDA.
Noting the Long Island hospitality industry “took a big hit as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Nassau County Industrial Development Agency Chairman Richard Kessel said Tuesday the new hotel “represents a major confidence boost in the sector’s rebound as we enter 2022.”
“The hotel will also include a conference center, bringing a much-needed amenity for the Jericho Business District,” Kessel added, trumpeting “a new, attractive facility where entities near and far can gather, spend money and generate new economic activity.”
Nassau County Industrial Development Agency Chief Executive Office Harry Coghlan agreed that “hotels and conference centers are major economic engines.”
“When you find projects poised for success, such as this one, the short-term tax benefits are quickly eclipsed by the long-term financial gain,” Coghlan added. “Without the NCIDA’s assistance, a project like this may never get off the ground.
“And our residents would ultimately be the ones to miss out on the opportunities to be created.”
Oxford Hospitality USA Managing Partner Paul Amoruso confirmed Coghlan’s assessment by noting the Jericho Plaza Hotel project “would not be economically feasible” without the IDA’s tax incentives.
“We are thankful for the NCIDA’s approval of this project, [which] will provide new luxury lifestyle hotel accommodations, a spa, top-tier conference facilities, fitness center, indoor pool, upscale restaurant, new jobs and numerous additional economic benefits for Nassau County,” Amoruso said in a statement. “We are getting the project underway and creating a welcomed asset for the area.”
