Small tech companies to occupy old Grumman plant

DEFENSEStrange as it may sound, Leroy Grumman has an office - sort of - in the spanking new, yet-to-be-fully-opened homeland security building in Bethpage, in Grumman's old Plant 5. What's strange is that Grumman, the founder of the former Grumman Corp., died in 1982 at age 87.

Yet, there is a small space on the third floor of the facility - officially known as the Applied Science Center of Innovation and Excellence in Homeland Security, which is to open later this month - that was once used by the man known far and wide as Mr. Grumman.

What's more, the office, which now awaits a new tenant, has the only window in the 90,000-square-foot building that opens. That, center officials said, is because Mr. Grumman used to like to leave his office window up so he could hear the whining engines of the Navy airplanes his company built as they landed and took off from a runway about 500 yards from his desk. If there was trouble with an engine, Mr. Grumman would know it.

Mr. Grumman's ''office'' is a small piece of the fascination of the building that in the future is to house as many as 18 small companies to allow them to work cooperatively if they desire on such projects as sensors and communications equipment for defense of the homeland. Emergency personnel will also occupy space, and Northrop Grumman Corp. will occupy the entire third floor.

On Friday, a Newsday reporter was given a tour. Doors opened only by use of a code or a card, and some required a handprint.

"The heart and soul" of the facility, according William J. Wahlig, executive director of the Long Island Forum for Technology, which oversaw development of the center, is a room known as the COIN, for Cyber Operation Integration Network.

The COIN is where analysts and emergency personnel would be able to see, in real time on a large screen, pictures of a terrorist attack or a natural disaster striking the region. They would be in communication with police, fire and other disaster officials.

But what would Mr. Grumman think if he could come back and see the building now? "He would be obviously disappointed that the aircraft industry is no longer what it was," Wahlig said. "But he was an engineer at heart. He would appreciate that it all transformed into something high-tech and creative. It's a different technology, but just as important today."

At a glance

What: Applied Science Center of Innovation and Excellence in Homeland Security.

What it is: A state-private funded facility at the old Grumman Corp. Plant 5 in Bethpage. It will be used by small companies to develop projects for homeland defense. There will also be a room where emergency personnel will be able to monitor terrorist attacks or natural disasters in the region.

Size: 90,000 square feet

Opening: Next month