By GREGORY ZELLER //
There’s no summer vacation for Long Island’s busy IDAs, which continue to spur regional economic activity with a series of tax-abatement deals.
Both the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency and the Town of Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency have issued final approvals for previously announced incentives packages, with the Suffolk IDA assisting construction of a new four-story hotel in Melville and the Brookhaven IDA wrapping a bow around a 91-unit rental apartment complex in East Patchogue.
The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency, meanwhile, has once again helped out The Harborside, a snakebit Port Washington retirement community that has declared bankruptcy three times in the last decade.
A fresh 20 years of NCIDA tax breaks, approved unanimously June 27 by the Nassau development agency’s Board of Directors, includes a $740,000-plus reduction in the property’s mortgage recording tax and a sales tax exemption up to $252,281 on the purchase of new equipment and furnishings.
The deal ties directly to the sale of The Harborside to Brooklyn-based Life Care Services, which won a December 2023 bankruptcy court auction for the long-troubled property, which has frequently experienced financial instability since its 2010 opening.
The Suffolk County IDA’s latest incentives package benefits Broadhollow Road Hotel LLC, a spinoff of Deer Park-based Giaquinto Masonry, a commercial and residential construction company planning a 106,016-square-foot Residence Inn by Marriott on three acres of land at 500 Broadhollow Road in Melville.
Construction and operation of the 143-room extended-stay hotel is projected by the Suffolk IDA to generate a $49.5 million community investment, with 500 construction-phase jobs followed by 32 full-time positions with an initial annual payroll exceeding $1.3 million.
Broadhollow Road Hotel has already completed the demolition of a vacant 6,695-square-foot office building on the site, which had been generating only $26,000 in annual property taxes. The new construction – including 620 square feet of meeting space, an outdoor barbecue area, an outdoor pool and other amenities – is expected to generate $500,000-plus in annual hotel taxes alone.
Kelly Murphy: Revival mode.
And even with an IDA-approved Payment in Lieu of Taxes package in place, it’s projected to crank out $100,000 in property taxes in its first year – with up to $425,000 in annual property taxes after the 15-year PILOT expires.
Those are some impressive numbers, according to Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency Executive Director Kelly Murphy, who trumpeted a “substantial investment” in a hospitality/business venture located just a short Uber from business travel mecca Republic Airport, not to mention Farmingdale State College and Huntington’s thriving downtown district – as well as the corporate headquarters of imaging giant Canon USA, medical-supplies kingpin Henry Schein and other major-league companies situated along the Route 110 Corridor.
“[The project] not only builds upon Suffolk County’s thriving tourism sector but revives a vacant site … into a tax generator,” Murphy added. “We are proud to support Broadhollow Road Hotel LLC for this venture and eagerly anticipate its groundbreaking.”
Similar positivity surrounds the Town of Brookhaven IDA’s final approval of an incentives package preliminarily approved in May, this benefiting R Squared Patchogue LLC, a subsidiary of Plainview-based Rechler Equity Partners looking to build dozens of new rental units – including workforce housing – in downtown East Patchogue.
Frederick Braun III: For rent.
As part of the $46.7 million Greybarn Patchogue project – rising in the Town of Brookhaven East Patchogue Incentive Overlay District, on the site of the former Mediterranean Manor catering hall and other smaller businesses – Rechler Equity Partners has also donated a one-acre plot on East Main Street to Brookhaven Town, expected to be the future home of a Patchogue Arts Council arts center.
Town of Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency Chairman Frederick Braun III framed Greybarn Patchogue as a cornerstone of the East Patchogue downtown’s much-needed makeover.
“We are happy to assist this project, which fulfills the need for additional rental housing, especially affordable housing, for the residents of our town,” Braun said in a statement. “Moreover, Greybarn advances the town’s overlay district plan for Main Street, and in turn will assist in revitalizing downtown East Patchogue.”
