Greybarn Patchogue to open 91 apartments in latest Main Street revamp

Apartment hunters will have a new option in East Patchogue this spring, when Greybarn Patchogue opens 91 units to tenants next month in the latest milestone for the area’s revitalization effort.

Greybarn Patchogue, a three-story building at 303 E. Main St., was built on the former site of the Mediterranean Manor catering hall. It is one of several developments that have capitalized on the Town of Brookhaven’s creation of an overlay district to spur more housing in 2020.

Elected officials and community leaders will join the developers Tuesday at the site for an event to mark the project's completion.

Since opening Greybarn Amityville in 2016, developers Gregg and Mitchell Rechler said, they have sought to build apartments with luxury that can attract Long Islanders who appreciate living in the suburbs but want more amenities than can be found in older garden apartments.

"The problem was 10 to 15 years ago, there wasn’t enough quality product," Gregg Rechler said. "While we’re still significantly underserved, there has been a field of better quality rental product with amenities."

More amenities

One-bedroom units start at about $3,150 and two-bedrooms start at nearly $3,600, according to Greybarn's website, with the priciest two-bedroom unit advertised asking about $4,700.

Apartments in the $47 million development range from about 800 to 1,600 square feet. The units have full-size appliances, including in-unit washers and dryers as well as , large windows and 9½-foot ceilings.

Amenities include a resident lounge, catering kitchen, billiards area, 16-seat cinema, 24-hour fitness center, private workspaces, a podcast studio and a golf simulator. Some of those amenities require additional fees.

Outside there are barbecue grills, a dog run and a swimming pool, where a 12-foot-tall deer sculpture by artist Tony Tasset overlooks the grounds.

Housing lottery

Eight of the units were set aside as restricted to people earning no more than 80% of area median income as part of the Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency's package of tax incentives for the project. That threshold is $92,350 for an individual and $105,550 for a couple on Long Island, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The nonprofit Long Island Housing Partnership will open a housing lottery to select tenants in May, said Jill Rosen-Nikoloff, senior vice president and general counsel at the organization.

Greybarn is one of three new apartment complexes to use the East Patchogue overlay district since it was created in 2020. The Grove, an affordable housing development on East Main Street, welcomed its first residents last year, and G4 Development Group plans a 40-unit complex at the since-demolished Plaza Theatre.

In East Patchogue, Brookhaven Councilman Neil Foley has supported the project as a way to add new housing in an area that benefits from an existing sewer system. He hopes to see East Patchogue become a more walkable community, with coffee shops and other places for people to visit.

"They can stay in the east part of Patchogue — they don’t always have to run over to the Village of Patchogue," he said.

Tax benefits

Greybarn received tax benefits from the Brookhaven IDA, including a $1.5 million sales tax exemption and a $315,000 mortgage recording tax exemption, public documents show. The IDA also granted a payment in lieu of taxes agreement, also known as PILOT, in which the owners will pay $4.8 million over 13 years before full taxes take effect. That represents an approximately $4.6 million savings for the developer, according to analysis for the IDA by the economic consulting firm Camoin Associates.

However, the payments are about 2½ times higher than the commercial properties Greybarn replaced would have paid if the apartments hadn’t been built.

Mitchell Rechler said the tax benefits help attract investment in new residential development that otherwise might go elsewhere.

"We have to be able to compete because of higher construction costs," Rechler said. "Costs are much less if you go to South Carolina or Florida."

Rechler Equities donated a 1-acre portion of the site to the Patchogue Arts Council that will serve as a space for exhibits and performances. The arts council is raising money to build a $12.5 million campus on the site and received $2 million from New York State. The arts and music scene in Patchogue has helped attract new residents, and some of those tenants have become members of the arts council, said Beth Giacummo, PAC’s executive director.

"If we didn’t have that type of support, we wouldn’t be able to grow into these larger spaces," she said.

By Jonathan LaMantia

jonathan.lamantia@newsday.com@jonlamantia

Jonathan LaMantia covers residential real estate and other business news on Long Island. He previously covered the business of health care for Crain's New York Business.