Suffolk County to auction off 124 acres

About 124 acres of virgin land owned by Suffolk County went up for auction Thursday, with officials hoping the property will fetch a bountiful price by the end of the year.

The lot in Yaphank was part of County Executive Steve Levy's proposed Legacy Village, a 250-acre housing-sports-industrial complex to be developed by The Beechwood Organization in Jericho. But the legislature effectively nixed the idea in April. That's when lawmakers voted to sell off the land to help close a $179.5-million budget gap for 2011-12.

"While the other parts of Legacy Village are not going to happen, this part will," Levy said.

Zoning for the land, off Horseblock Road, is light industrial. This allows offices, warehouses, manufacturing, laboratories and even banking.

"The smarter investor out there knows that this is a very good time to buy," Levy said. "This is an island of finite space. When you can get a big industrial parcel such at this, that's already sewered, it's a major bonus."

The buyer would have to upgrade the sewage system.

Levy said funds from the sale would go toward this year's budget. An appraisal is to be done this month, he said, but "we'll let the market tell us what we'll get on the property."

The broker handling the sale said the property could garner about $12 million.

But there's a challenge. Bids are due Oct. 14, and the deal must close by Dec. 31.

"It's going to be difficult, but we feel we can overcome that hurdle with the right bargaining technique," said Jack O'Connor, a principal at Newmark Knight Frank brokerage in Melville. "Everything comes down to price."

Michael Dubb, the head of Beechwood, said selling the industrial piece of Legacy Village may not work out in a down market: "On its own, I really can't comment on the viability of it getting developed and producing tax revenues for Suffolk in the short term."