Heartland developer gets 10-year tax break

The Islip Town Industrial Development Agency on Tuesday approved a 10-year tax break for a 150,000-square-foot building to be constructed as part of Heartland Industrial Park in Edgewood.

Owner Gerald Wolkoff, developer of the $4 billion Heartland Town Square project in Brentwood, is investing almost $7 million in the “speculative industrial” building, IDA director William Mannix said.

“He’s building on speculation that he will be able to lease it out, and actually we’re working with a couple of companies that are thinking about the possibility of moving into that particular space,” Mannix said, though he would not name the companies.

The Islip Town board, acting as the IDA board, voted 5-0 to approve the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, agreement, which Mannix projected to be worth about $1.4 million over 10 years. Projections based on this year’s tax rate would put the building’s total town property taxes across 10 years at about $2.7 million, Mannix said; Wolkoff instead will pay about $1.3 million.

As the building is constructed, Wolkoff will also receive sales tax benefits worth $202,000, Mannix said.

During the town board meeting, Mannix said the facility could be geared toward “manufacturing with 200 jobs, or a distribution facility with half that. The investment is important because it adds assessed value.”

He said Wolkoff pays $19,000 in annual property taxes at the site on Wilshire Boulevard.

“Throughout that industrial park, which is the largest in the town, are a number of buildings that enjoy IDA benefits from the Suffolk County IDA or the Islip Town IDA, some of which are owned by Gerry and some of which are owned by individual companies,” Mannix said.