New distribution center planned at vacant industrial property in Shirley
Rendering of a building that will be constructed in Shirley as part of Precision Innovation Park, a 500,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution complex. Credit: AVR SP Brookhaven JV LLC
Construction could start as soon as next week on the first of three buildings at a new Shirley distribution center that will offer 500,000 square feet of space for warehouses and storage, developers say.
Precision Innovation Park will be built by AVR SP Brookhaven JV LLC on a previously vacant 48-acre industrial property south of the Long Island Expressway and east of William Floyd Parkway. When completed, the complex will include two buildings for warehouses and distribution centers and a separate 100,000-square-foot self-storage facility.
Chicago-based real estate giant JLL announced Tuesday it had been retained to attract tenants for the two distribution facilities, which combined would comprise 400,000 square feet.
“The location of this facility is ideal for companies seeking a logistics center with direct access to the Long Island Expressway and Long Island’s affluent and dense population,” JLL executive managing director Leslie Lanne said in a statement. “Coupled with its state-of-the-art design and competitive operating costs, Precision Innovation Park offers extraordinary flexibility at a time of increasing demand for logistics space.”
JLL, also known as Jones Lang LaSalle is the master developer of a separate project in Ronkonkoma aimed at developing a convention center and hotel and building a new northern terminal for Long Island MacArthur Airport. The $2.3 billion project, dubbed Midway Crossing, requires multiple federal, state, Suffolk County and Islip Town approvals and is expected to take about 15 years to complete.
In Shirley, AVR SP Brookhaven hopes to start construction next week on a 150,000-square-foot distribution center that would open next year, said Brian Ferruggiari, director of public affairs for AVR Realty, a partner in the project. Construction would then begin on a 250,000-square-foot distribution building, he said. Ferruggiari said the project, which will cost $100 million including land acquisition, will take four years to build and create about 100 construction jobs per year, adding there will be about 70 full-time jobs when it’s finished.
The new buildings would be “state-of-the-art, up-to-date industrial" facilities with high ceilings required by prospective tenants, Ferruggiari said, adding they could be leased by one or more tenants.
AVR SP Brookhaven is a joint venture of Yonkers-based AVR Realty, the developer of the Boulevard residential and retail complex in Yaphank, and Scannell Properties, an Indianapolis-based real estate developer.
Plans for the industrial park are welcome news for Suffolk and Nassau counties, Long Island Builders Institute chief executive Mitch Pally told Newsday. The park is one of a number of distribution centers planned or under construction to meet high demand from big box stores and home delivery services, he said.
Precision will join other new distribution centers replacing obsolete warehouses that lack amenities such as high ceilings, Pally said. Taller buildings are needed because retailers want “more space going up rather than sideways,” he said.
“It’s very difficult to [build] one of these things that don’t have the design for this kind of purpose," Pally said. "The older buildings cannot satisfy the need of the development in that regard.”
Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.
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