Glen Cove development secures tax incentives from Nassau County IDA

The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency granted tax breaks to a 29-unit apartment development in Glen Cove, part of a wider push to add housing in the city.

The $12.5 million project, which has faced zoning roadblocks for years, is set to take the place of a vacant auto body repair shop on Glen Street near the city’s downtown. The developer — 115 Glen Street Property Owner LLC — will set aside four housing units for households with 80% the area median income, and two units at 130% the area median income. The construction is expected to take about 18 months, said Dan Deegan, an attorney for the developer, in a phone interview.

The Nassau County IDA unanimously granted a 15-year PILOT — or, payment in lieu of taxes — agreement and a mortgage tax exemption of up to $71,250. 

“The project is a long time coming,” said Deegan at the Nov. 20 Nassau County IDA meeting. “This is just what the downtown needs.”

In 2017, the developer pitched a 39-unit development that was rejected by the Glen Cove City Council over density concerns. A year later, a reduced 34-unit project was proposed, Newsday had reported, before the latest 29-unit proposal was approved.

As part of the approved deal, the developer will set aside 13 parking spaces for the Glen Cove Senior Center, which used the lot across the road at 115 Glen St. for years. Deegan said Alec Ornstein, a principal of 115 Glen Street Property Owner LLC, is in conversations with nearby businesses to provide temporary parking to the senior center during construction.

“Hopefully there will be a minimal disruption for the seniors,” Deegan said at the meeting.

Glen Cove earlier this year raised the cost of building commercial apartments in the city in an effort to boost revenue. That move came after the city hiked taxes in 2024 amid a budget shortfall caused by a lack of development at the $1.1 billion RXR Garvies Point development. 

Reggie Spinello, a Nassau County IDA board member and the former mayor of Glen Cove, said the project doesn’t have negative impacts to city infrastructure and addresses concerns raised by the Glen Cove Senior Center.

“Something else could have gone there, and there could have been nothing for the seniors,” Spinello said at the meeting.

Nassau County IDA Chairman William Rockensies said the agency “is proud to support the transformation of a parking lot into a vibrant, tax-generating residential community that will help address our region’s critical housing shortage.”

The development “will deliver 29 high-quality rental units, with several of the units to be designated as affordable housing, all within walking distance of the Glen Cove LIRR station,” Rockensies said in a written statement.

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ