Nassau IDA awards $281,250 in tax breaks for renovations at Pine Town Homes

The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency has awarded up to $281,250 in tax breaks for improvements to a low-income housing development in Long Beach.

The property manager of Pine Town Homes, Metropolitan Realty Group LLC, will use the tax incentives to offset the cost of installing new kitchens and bathrooms in all 130 apartments on East Pine Street, between the Rev. J.J. Evans Boulevard and Long Beach Boulevard. The total price tag is $4 million, according to the application for IDA aid.

The 256 tenants won’t have to move while the work is being done, Mitchell Reiter, general counsel for Great Neck-based Metropolitan Realty, wrote in the application.

Pine Town is among a half-dozen Section 8 communities on Long Island to receive IDA assistance for renovation projects since 2023, state records show.

The upkeep of the properties, some of which date to the 1960s and 1970s, is necessary to maintain tenants’ quality of life and forestall more costly renovations that would require them to move, advocates for affordable housing said.

“No one deserves to live in an apartment where there’s no heat, the windows are leaking and the plumbing doesn’t work,” said Peter J. Elkowitz, chief executive and president of the Long Island Housing Partnership. The group isn’t involved with the Pine Town project.

Elkowitz also said tenants often work in child care, food service, transportation and health care.

“People with low income perform tasks that are important to everyone’s day-to-day life. We risk losing those services if they are forced to leave Long Island because they can no longer afford to live here,” he said.

On Thursday, the IDA board voted unanimously to support the Pine Town project.

The aid consists of a sales-tax exemption of up to $172,500 on the purchase of construction materials and furnishings, plus up to $108,750 off the mortgage-recording tax. The latter would facilitate the replacement of a $33.5 million mortgage with a Fannie Mae mortgage of $48 million — of which $7.4 million would be used to settle a lawsuit not related to Pine Town, the IDA application states.

In 2011, the IDA granted property-tax savings over 20 years with an option for a 10-year extension tied to Pine Town’s status as a Section 8 community under U.S. Housing and Urban Development guidelines. At the time, the property was being sold and renovated in a $26.9 million deal, according to the Newsday archives.

Records show more than $1.1 million in property taxes have been saved so far.

William Rockensies, the IDA’s chairman, said the agency wants to help to maintain and grow the number of affordable homes in Nassau.

“It’s part of our mission. We also want to help the tenants, who are often low income or seniors, to maintain their quality of life,” he said in an interview.

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.