Suffolk IDA gives final OK to $2M in tax breaks to 'Cornerstone at Kings Park' apartment plan

The Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency voted Thursday to grant $2 million in tax breaks to a planned $22 million, three-story, 46-unit apartment project in Kings Park. 

The agency, citing community benefits such as providing housing options and the project's consistency with the master plan to revitalize Kings Park, voted at its regular meeting to give final approval for a 15-year, $2 million PILOT program to the developers behind the "Cornerstone at Kings Park" project. The agency in July gave preliminary approval to providing the tax assistance.

The project — pitched by Farmingdale-based developer Terwilliger & Bartone Properties and co-partner Tanzi Properties LLC — calls for building on a two-parcel, 2.26-acre lot near a Long Island Rail Road station on the corner of Meadow and Indian Head roads downtown. 

Anthony Bartone, managing partner for Terwilliger & Bartone, said after the meeting in Hauppauge that the developers were “thrilled” by the decision, adding, “We’re ready to get to work.”

“Building permits are imminent, so once we get that last piece of the puzzle … we’re just anxious to get a shovel in the ground and build,” Bartone said.

According to Peter Hans, Smithtown's planning director, the project developers are finished with site plan review. "At this time the only remaining requirements for permits are with the Building Department," he said.

Ultimately, the project needs final approval from the Smithtown Town Board.  

It would be built on a 0.48-acre parcel of the lot, where a closed restaurant will be demolished to make way for the complex, IDA documents state. The remaining 1.78 acres contain a now-shuttered Rite Aid pharmacy and multi-tenant office building.

The development also would have 137 parking spaces, including 29 in a belowground parking garage. The project is expected to generate roughly 90 jobs and provide at least five affordable units while generating income for downtown businesses through tenants and during construction, developers previously told Newsday. 

Currently, without the project, the property pays only $2,448 in base taxes, according to the project’s cost benefit analysis by Grow America.

In the first year of the 15-year PILOT agreement, the developer would receive a 60% reduction on the property’s full taxes — an estimated $230,000 — meaning it would pay $94,039 in property taxes in the first year. Each year afterward, the developers would pay 4% more on taxes until they end up paying an estimated $220,936 in full property taxes during the 15th and final year, according to the PILOT schedule. 

At the IDA’s Aug. 20 public hearing, which had few people in attendance, several speakers — including Suffolk County Legis. Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga) — told IDA representatives they questioned what “tangible” benefits the project would bring the community and if the board had any safeguards to ensure the developer could deliver on their promises.

Trotta on Thursday urged the board to reject granting the project tax breaks, stating during one exchange with the board that the majority of people in Kings Park did not want the project there.

The agency's board on Thursday addressed the comments from the Aug. 20 hearing. Regarding safeguards, board member Josh Slaughter said all applicants for tax assistance must prove the number of jobs they’ve created, and the agency can cancel or “claw back” assistance if they don’t meet those job numbers.

On tangible benefits, board member Gregory Casamento said there was an “enormous need” for more workforce housing on Long Island, and “this will provide some assistance to remedying that need.”

Kevin Harvey, the IDA's vice chair, said the agency doesn't "give away tax incentives very lightly," and that after careful review of the project, he said, "it looks like [small businesses] will benefit from not only this project, but other projects to come."

The PILOT agreement goes into effect after the project receives its certificate of occupancy, according to Kelly Murphy, the agency's CEO and executive director.