Fonar, after weighing Florida move, renews Melville lease

Fonar Corp., a pioneering manufacturer of magnetic resonance imaging scanners that had strongly considered moving its Melville headquarters to Florida, has signed an 11-year lease renewal at 110 Marcus Dr., developer Rechler Equity Partners, the property's owner, announced Thursday.

The public company will remain at the 78,240-square-foot site where it has operated for 35 years, said Mitchell Rechler, a managing partner at Rechler Equity. As part of the new lease agreement, the developer will oversee a series of capital improvements at the site, including improvements to the parking lot and roof.

"They're among our oldest tenants," Rechler said. "We've seen them grow a tremendous amount over the years. We're excited to continue it again for another 11 years."

The lease signing comes more than a month after the company was granted tax benefits from the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency to avoid a move off Long Island.

Officials at Fonar, whose chief executive Dr. Raymond Damadian holds the first MRI patent, had said a combination of intense competition and the Island's high taxes could force the company to move to Florida, where it operates seven MRI screening centers, if the county couldn't ease taxes.

In late August, the IDA approved Fonar for a 10-year property tax abatement, and a nearly $9,000 sales tax exemption on the purchase of equipment for the facility.