Plans to turn BOCES school near former Grumman Aerospace to a warehouse

A former school that taught generations how to fly and fix airplanes in Bethpage, near where Grumman Aerospace built fighter jets, is slated to become a warehouse or factory with up to 17 loading docks.

The building at 610 Hicksville Rd. was constructed in 1976 on an aircraft runway for the Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES. At one time, up to 500 students attended classes in flight training and aircraft maintenance, including bodywork and engine repair, according to an engineering report from 1996 when BOCES was preparing to leave for other locations.

Since 1999, the 50,000-square-foot building has been rented by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for use as an engineering office for the Long Island Rail Road, along with workshops and storage space for 170 employees. But now the LIRR is moving to a nearby facility that it owns, MTA spokesman David Steckel told Newsday.

So, the owner of the Hicksville Road property, developer Steel Equities, is proposing $7.4 million in upgrades to turn the office space into warehouse or industrial space.

“The tenant is vacating at or around December,” said Joseph J. Lostritto, an owner of Steel Equities. “The premises will need significant capital replacements in order to be used by a new tenant.”

Plans to retrofit the building

The renovations will include roofing, windows, doors, plumbing and lighting fixtures, and heating and air conditioning systems, he wrote in an application for tax breaks from the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency.

Lostritto said once the renovations are completed the building will be “leased to one or more tenants…[Steel Equities] has not decided on a particular use,” he said.

Steel Equities is seeking a sales-tax exemption of up to $334,675 on the purchase of construction materials, supplies and fixtures, plus $45,000 off the mortgage-recording tax. The developer also has asked for property-tax savings over 15 years, according to the IDA application.

The IDA board voted unanimously on Nov. 20 to begin negotiations with Steel Equities for a tax incentive package.

Daniel P. Deegan, the developer’s real estate attorney, said during the IDA meeting, "A pretty sizable investment is going to be required to retrofit this building, to clean it up, to get it to a place where it has loading docks — there are no loading docks right now.”

Deegan also said the land on which the building sits isn’t contaminated unlike other former Grumman sites nearby, some of which Steel Equities has rehabilitated with the help of IDA tax breaks.

The Hicksville Road building hasn’t paid property taxes for 25 years because it was rented by the LIRR, which is tax exempt. So, the renovation project will likely return the property to the tax rolls, meaning the public school district and other governments would receive tax revenue even if the IDA incentives are forthcoming, Deegan said.

The building that the LIRR is moving to — 225 Central Ave. South in Bethpage — once was the headquarters of Kravet Inc., a designer and wholesaler of fabrics, furniture, wallpaper and other home furnishings. When the LIRR decided to buy the property, the IDA awarded tax breaks in 2020 to Kravet for its new office in Woodbury. 

Growing demand for industrial space

Demand for warehouse and industrial space on Long Island has increased this year, according to the real estate brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield.

The vacancy rate for warehouses and factories was 5.2% in the July-September period, which represented the second consecutive quarterly decline after steady increases since early 2022, Cushman & Wakefield reported.

IDA treasurer John Coumatos, who lives in Bethpage and owns a restaurant there, said Steel Equities’ rehabilitation of the former Grumman campus helped the local economy to rebound after the aircraft giant downsized.

Steel Equities has “rebuilt” the hamlet, he said during the IDA meeting. “They are good at what they do, and anything they finish is golden.”

Sheldon L. Shrenkel, the IDA's executive director, agreed, telling Newsday that the agency is "confident a long-term tenant will call [the Hicksville Road] facility home, which means our residents will have new job opportunities and the county will experience growth of the long-term tax base.

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.