Developer wins IDA tax breaks for Huntington Station apartment building

A Huntington Station developer is proposing its sixth housing project in the area north of the Long Island Rail Road station — and is on the way to winning tax breaks for the plan.

Blue & Gold Holdings wants to construct a 16-unit apartment building on vacant land along New York Avenue. Three of the apartments would have rents that are below the market rate, and there would be two stores or offices on the first floor, executives said.

The $7.3 million project won preliminary approval on Thursday for $871,550 in tax breaks from the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency. The board vote was unanimous.

Much of the savings, $537,000 over 15 years, is on property taxes. But local schools and governments will receive an additional $805,580 in property taxes over the period than if the land remained vacant, according to an analysis by the National Development Council, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit hired by the IDA.

Blue & Gold isn't "unduly enriching [itself] in any sense" by seeking tax aid, the development council's Kevin Gremse told the IDA board on Thursday.

The Landmark at Huntington Station project aligns with a larger plan to revitalize a neighborhood that was devastated by urban renewal in the last century, according to Grant Havasy, Blue & Gold's owner and president.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the federal government paid for the seizure and demolition of blighted neighborhoods across the country that were supposed to be replaced by new buildings — but too often weren't. In Huntington Station, funding ran out for the new structures, leaving empty lots and parking fields for decades.

Havasy said he needs the IDA tax aid to build the Landmark at Huntington Station because construction costs have soared in the pandemic and the "affordable" rental units required by Huntington Town make it difficult to turn a profit.

The IDA’s consultant estimated the affordable rents for the one-bedroom apartments would be $1,850 per month, on average, compared with the market rate of $2,438, on average.

"If the project did not receive the requested financial assistance and therefore did not move forward, this would likely stall or prevent the entire Huntington Station revitalization effort — and as a result downtown Huntington Station would remain blighted," Havasy wrote in the application for IDA aid.

Previously, the IDA granted tax breaks to two of Blue & Gold’s apartment buildings in the area. Each also received property-tax savings over 15 years.

IDA chair Natalie Wright, who also serves as Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone's economic development chief, said the developer "has transformed this entire one- to two-block radius" along New York Avenue with building renovations and new construction that still maintain the "external character of the neighborhood."

She said Blue & Gold has invested more than $26 million in the area and its property-tax bill will go from $11,500 per year to $347,000 once the tax breaks have expired.

IDA executive director Anthony J. Catapano credited Huntington town with devising a revitalization plan for downtown Huntington Station that's attractive to private investors. "That's what all government [economic development] programs are trying to achieve," he told Newsday.

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.