Tritec granted $28.6 million tax break for Lindenhurst Residences

The Babylon Industrial Development Agency on Tuesday approved a $28.6 million tax break for a developer to construct a 260-unit apartment building in Lindenhurst.

The planned Lindenhurst Residences will get a 30-year tax abatement on its property at East Hoffman Avenue across from the Lindenhurst train station. 

The Village of Lindenhurst previously gave approvals to the developer, East Setauket-based Tritec Real Estate, to construct the building on a 7-acre parcel and demolish the existing buildings, including the Lakeville Kitchen & Bath building.

The building is expected to be completed by spring of 2021 and will offer market rate studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom units, including 26 affordable housing units, and will have 379 parking spaces.

Tritec will employ six people permanently and 247 people during construction.

The tax abatement decreases by almost half what the owner would have paid on the developed property.

Critics of the plan who spoke at a Nov. 29 public hearing feared the tax cuts would hurt the school district, and the complex would result in more children enrolled in public schools.

But the taxes paid during the 30-year abatement period are still significantly higher than the current taxes paid on the property, Kevin Gremse of the National Development Council, which provided an analysis of the Tritec plan, noted before the Tuesday vote.

Annual taxes on the property are currently $335,145, the IDA said. Total taxes without the break would be $60.5 million over 30 years; with the break taxes will be about $32 million, still three times as much as the current taxes.

Tritec is the developer behind Patchogue’s downtown revitalization and the planned Ronkonkoma Hub, and proponents of the Lindenhurst plan have pointed to Patchogue’s recent downtown revitalization, hoping the same could be realized there.

According to the IDA, 14 children in the 291-unit Patchogue development have enrolled in schools, four of which are in private schools.

The presidents of the Lindenhurst Chamber of Commerce, Lindenhurst Business Improvement District and Long Island Builders Institute supported the project at the public hearing, and said they expected it would attract new restaurants and retailers.