Queens glassmaker plans to create 30 jobs at a second factory on LI
A Queens glassmaker wants to expand in Nassau County. The company manufactures tempered glass, which does not break into shards when shattered. Credit: In Pictures via Getty Images/Mike Kemp
A manufacturer of safety glass in Queens plans to expand by adding a factory in Plainview, officials said.
NY Tempering LLC wants to purchase a 54,450-square-foot building at 15 East Bethpage Rd. It has been home to a commercial printer and direct marketing company.
The $14.5 million project calls for raising the building’s ceiling from 14 feet to 30 feet and installing glass production equipment.
Thirty people would work at the new factory within three years, NY Tempering partner Haidong Weng said in the company’s application for tax breaks from the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency.
NY Tempering is seeking a sales-tax exemption of up to $327,750 on the purchase of construction materials, equipment and supplies, plus $60,000 off the mortgage recording tax. It has requested property-tax savings over 15 years; current taxes are about $200,000 per year, the application states.
Last month, the IDA board agreed to begin negotiations for a tax-aid deal.
Without the assistance, Weng said NY Tempering would expand in Suffolk County or New Jersey, "which have much lower purchase prices [for factory buildings] and taxes."
NY Tempering needs a second plant to "meet its commercial, industrial and residential customers' growing demand for tempered glass," he said, adding the new facility would increase the company’s sales by $10 million per year.
Tempered or safety glass is four to five times stronger than standard glass and doesn’t break into sharp shards. The glass is made through a process of extreme heating and rapid cooling.
The glass is used for building facades, stairs, shower doors, flooring, furniture and railings.
NY Tempering’s real estate attorney Daniel J. Baker said it has no plans to close its 14,400-square-foot factory on Flushing Avenue in Maspeth, Queens. About 20 people work there.
"This is truly a growth project," he said at the IDA’s first in-person meeting in more than a year. "The company isn’t moving its Queens operation" to Nassau.
IDA chairman Richard Kessel said the 30 jobs that NY Tempering will create in the county "are needed as the economy recovers from the pandemic."
The jobs will pay between $35,000 per year for administrative and production personnel and $45,000 for managers, on average, records show.
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.
