NPD agrees to stay and expand on LI

The NPD Group Inc., a consumer research company, is planning $8 million in improvements to its Port Washington headquarters, including an expanded data center, officials said last night.

NPD agreed to base the data unit here instead of in Ireland in exchange for a $490,000 sales-tax break on construction materials, machinery and furniture for its upgraded office. The agreement adds 10 jobs to the company's local workforce of about 500 people.

NPD also plans improvements to the headquarters' entrance at 900 West Shore Rd.

Lanny Catz, who handles real estate matters for the company and once served as chief administrative officer, said nearly doubling the size of the current data center would enable NPD to provide more information about consumer tastes to more companies.

"There will be a lot of investment in hardware that will run data that will provide answers to our clients' questions," he told the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency.

The agency approved the sales-tax break 2-0 with one abstention after a discussion of whether NPD would use unionized construction workers on its project and ensure prevailing wages are paid.

Christopher Fusco, an IDA director and president of Local 7 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, asked NPD officials whether union workers, including apprentices, would make the headquarters' improvements.

He also urged NPD to negotiate a project labor agreement so compensation for the 50 construction workers would adhere to prevailing wage rates.

Frank Davis, an attorney for NPD, responded it was too soon to know the composition of the construction crew, but he said unionized electricians would be used. "It will be an open shop," he said, referring to the use of unionized and nonunion contractors.

Fusco said, "That means area [wage] standards won't be protected."

Catz replied, "We've made it clear we want to consider union and nonunion."

He also said preference would be given to contractors based in Nassau County.

Responding to the exchange, IDA executive director Joseph J. Kearney asked IDA lawyer Paul O'Brien to see if NPD would agree to use some union apprentices.

Fusco applauded the suggestion. He abstained in the sales-tax vote.

Last night's action does not affect a 10-year Payment In Lieu of Taxes agreement signed by NPD and the IDA in 2007. That deal lowered the company's property taxes when it added 25,000 square feet of space to the headquarters and created more than 100 jobs.

The office building, now 117,000 square feet of space, once was an ice-skating rink in Port Washington. The IDA played a role in that 1981 conversion.