Tax deal would make way for 12 apartments, Family Dollar store in Copiague
Darius Masonry at 1800 Great Neck Rd. in Copiague. Credit: Newsday/Rachel O'Brien
A planned mixed-use building in the heart of downtown Copiague may get an almost 50 percent tax abatement, as the hamlet continues its yearslong revitalization efforts.
The owner of the single-story masonry business at 1800 Great Neck Rd., Darius Mroczkowski, would demolish it to construct a three-story building, housing a Family Dollar on the first floor and 12 apartments on the second and third floors.
Three of the units would be affordable — the minimum required by the town — and the project would employ 15 people during construction, making it eligible for a tax abatement.
The building is adjacent to the Copiague train station and in the business center, and is the latest development that would make the area more walkable for the tenants, a major goal for the Town of Babylon when it rezoned downtown Copiague in 2015.
If the Babylon Industrial Development Agency gives Mroczkowski the 46 percent tax break, he would pay $881,490 in property taxes over 15 years, making incremental payments until the abatement is phased out, saving $755,416 over the decade and a half.
Joseph Buzzell, Mroczkowski’s attorney, said, “The town wants to see Copiague revitalized; Darius would like to see Copiague revitalized and the economics are weak. Without the financing, the job really doesn’t work economically.”
Mroczkowski also developed a nearby site on Marconi Boulevard with 20 rental units, and his third proposed development for 12 units on Oak Street is still in the town’s approval process.
The development that has had the largest impact on the rental market in Copiague is the 90-unit Copiague Commons, a $33.5 million mixed income housing complex on Railroad Avenue that was completed in 2017.
The 1800 Great Neck Rd. parcel has town approvals in place and has been waiting on the IDA to offer a tax abatement.
The IDA will hold a public hearing on the proposal at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at 47 West Main St., Babylon.
The agency will hold a regular meeting the following day at 8 a.m. at Babylon Town Hall, 200 E. Sunrise Hwy., but it’s unclear whether it will vote on the tax abatement.
'I had to keep my mouth shut' Ronnie Tanner, a horse jockey in the '60s and '70s, and Kendrick Carmouche, a current jockey, spoke about the racism Black jockeys have faced. NewsdayTV's Jamie Stuart reports.
'I had to keep my mouth shut' Ronnie Tanner, a horse jockey in the '60s and '70s, and Kendrick Carmouche, a current jockey, spoke about the racism Black jockeys have faced. NewsdayTV's Jamie Stuart reports.
