Enzo Biochem gets $2.8 million tax deal for expansion from Babylon IDA

Enzo Biochem Inc., a manufacturer of clinical products and a provider of laboratory services in East Farmingdale, will receive $2.8 million in tax abatements over 15 years to expand its operations to a third building and hire 60 people over three years.

The company has three legs — Enzo Clinical Labs, Enzo Life Sciences and Enzo Therapeutics — and has purchased a 35,800-square-foot building, at 21 Executive Blvd., to create a campus alongside its existing buildings at 10 Executive Blvd. and 60 Executive Blvd., which total 66,000 square feet.

The company employs about 400 people and expects to spend $13.5 million on the building and for upgrades at all three facilities.

The company also has a 27,000-square-foot facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and said on its tax abatement application to the Babylon Industrial Development Agency that it was considering expanding there.

“Without financial assistance from the Babylon IDA, Enzo may consider relocating their business elsewhere,” the application said.

The IDA is a public authority that gives tax abatements to businesses for manufacturing or industrial uses, workforce housing or a designated tourist destination that creates jobs.

Brendan Murphy, special projects manager for the organization, said the tax abatement also applies to the existing buildings that Enzo has occupied for at least 20 years, as part of a “campus deal” for the manufacturing, research, development and distribution centers.

Current property taxes on all three buildings total $319,566 annually, according to Murphy, and the tax abatement saves the company $2.8 million beginning at the end of 2019 with a 100 percent abatement, phasing out over 15 years.

Enzo will also get a sales tax abatement of about $422,625 for construction material, and a mortgage recording tax abatement of $33,750, Murphy said.

Enzo President Barry Weiner said the company closed on the purchase of the new building last week, and renovations of the space, previously used as an office and warehouse, will begin in 2019. 

Weiner said adding the third building was necessary for the business to continue.

“We have functionally expanded to our maximum in the two structures we occupy,” he said.