Hempstead IDA extends tax benefits for the Gallery at Westbury Plaza shopping center

The Hempstead Town Industrial Development Agency has granted a five-year extension of property tax abatements for the Gallery at Westbury Plaza in Garden City.

The 312,242-square-foot retail mall, owned by Regency Centers of Jacksonville, Florida, is home to more than 30 stores. The one requirement it needed to meet to gain the extension was for its retailers to employ a minimum of 375 workers.

 In its most recent reporting to the IDA on Dec. 31, the center said 468 workers were employed there, shy of the 600 initially pledged to the town.

"They're doing good," IDA chief executive Fred Parola said in a statement. "They not only met [the criteria for an extension], but exceeded it."

Under the IDA agreement, the center has paid property taxes of $1.8 million since 2017. That will now escalate each year, from $1.96 million next year to $2.27 million in 2027.

The open-air shopping center was built in 2011, at a time when IDA groups were permitted to incentivize retail projects. New York State banned such arrangements in 2013, granting exceptions only to projects in distressed areas, offering services unavailable elsewhere in town or related to tourism. The extension is permitted since it was included in the prior agreement.

The national and regional chain offerings at the Gallery, which opened in August 2012, include tenants such as home stores The Container and HomeGoods; clothing retailers Nordstrom and Banana Republic; and food purveyors Spuntino Wine Bar and Shake Shack, and is one of just seven Long Island locations for health food grocer Trader Joe's. Employees at the Starbucks located at the mall made headlines earlier this year when they voted to unionize.

The plaza's design incorporates metal panels and different shades of stone, glass structures and one building with two levels of retail space. The idea behind the space was that it would be something in between a mall and a downtown center, the builders said at the time. The shopping center cost $144 million to build, added 500 construction jobs and generated $160 million for the local economy, Hempstead Town told Newsday in 2012.

Regency Centers, a real estate investment trust, acquired the shopping center from its initial owner, Equity One Inc., in 2017. Regency owns more than 400 retail properties nationwide.

Other Long Island properties owned by Regency include The Point at Garden City Park and Lake Grove Commons. It also acquired Stew Leonard’s Plaza in East Meadow and King Kullen shopping centers in Eastport, Valley Stream and Wading River last year.

Gallery at Westbury Plaza is located at 900 Old Country Rd.