Old friends Molloy U., Hempstead LDC team up again

By GREGORY ZELLER //

Molloy University has received a helping hand from one of Long Island’s busiest nonprofit boosters – once again.

The Town of Hempstead Local Development Corp. issued preliminary approvals Tuesday for the sale of up to $75 million in tax-exempt bonds on behalf of the Rockville Centre-based university, which plans to use bond-sale proceeds to construct a 48,000-square-foot science building on land currently covered with a parking lot.

While a public hearing, final LDC authorizations and the blessing of Town of Hempstead Supervisor John Ferretti Jr. are still required, Molloy is already planning to funnel roughly $40 million in bond-sale bucks into the estimated $78 million project.

Molloy Chief Financial Officer Brian McNeill said Tuesday the university is also counting on up to $30 million in state and federal grants to support the ground-up construction effort, with a 2029 completion date on the drawing board.

McNeill is not the only one looking ahead. Town of Hempstead LDC Executive Director Fred Parola said Tuesday that “once final,” the bond sale will have “a tremendous impact on Molloy University as well as on the economics of the surrounding communities.”

The new science building will be designed to expand the university’s capacity for preparing students to excel in biotechnology, chemistry and other high-demand STEM fields. It will also allow Molloy to introduce a new degree program focused on clinical lab sciences, the university noted, and include a community-based workforce-development component focused on non-degree certificate programs – all of which will “strengthen” Molloy’s competitiveness, according to McNeill.

This is not the first time the Town of Hempstead LDC has stepped up to support Molloy University, with several rounds of similar assistance creating a sort of feedback loop. In 2018, the LDC approved the sale of $15 million in tax-exempt bonds for a dorm-construction project at then-Molloy College – the third of three tax-exempt bond sales dating back to 2014.

A portion of the proceeds from this latest bond sale may also be used to repay the LDC-backed bond debt generated by those previous deals, the Local Development Corp. said in a statement, completing the past wheeling-dealing at no expense to Town of Hempstead taxpayers.

If ultimately approved, the new bond sale will also generate 200 construction-phase jobs and three permanent full-time university positions.

According to Parola – a partner at Wantagh-based law firm Parola & Gross who also heads up the Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency – that made the new bond plan an easy call for the LDC, which specializes in providing low-interest, tax-exempt bonds to Hempstead-based not-for-profit organizations, medical facilities, civic entities and educational institutions.

“Molloy is a great growth engine for the town,” the executive director added.