Developer to sell 5 Huntington Station rental buildings

The developer behind five Huntington Station apartment buildings that helped area revitalization efforts will sell all but one of the properties, as the company looks to build other homes on Long Island.

Huntington Station-based Blue & Gold Homes closed on a contract to sell the nine-unit apartment building at 1090 New York Ave., for just over $4 million on Friday, and is in contract to sell the nearby nine-unit property at 1078 New York Ave., for about $4 million this month, said Blue & Gold’s president Grant Havasy.

The deals follow Blue & Gold Homes’ sale of 1046 New York Ave., which closed in April for $8.95 million.

Future developments

Havasy said he sold the buildings to free up money for future developments, such as condominium projects or single-family home communities in Suffolk County and eastern Nassau.

"We were never landlords or rental builders," he said. "We decided to dispose of these assets so we can keep doing for sale developments — what we’ve always done."

Cincinati Holdings Company, LLC bought 1090 New York Ave., while Nassau Residence LLC is in contract to buy 1078 New York Ave, Havasy said. Both buyers are U.S.-based investors, said Nicholas Tuccillo, a broker for Manhattan-based brokerage Marcus and Millichap, who brokered the deals with his brother Michael Tuccillo. Nicholas Tuccillo. Havasy declined to share additional details.

Blue & Gold has developed or renovated six properties in Huntington Station since 2016: five multifamily buildings on New York Avenue and one single-family home.

Havasy said he will sell all the buildings except 1100 New York Ave., a 16-unit property with a 3,500-square-foot commercial space on the ground floor, which he built with an investor.

Revitalization effort

The planned sales follow a push to revitalize Huntington Station, aided by state dollars. New York State awarded the hamlet neighborhood a $10 million grant in 2023 to upgrade its streets and help fund new apartment buildings in the area surrounding the Long Island Rail Road station, Newsday previously reported.

Havasy’s "overall vision" was "very intentionally directed at a revitalization effort," said Kelly Murphy, executive director and CEO of the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency, which awarded tax breaks to three Blue & Gold developments.

"One could argue that might be part of the impetus for the state to continue that effort," she added.

Havasy said he started with just one property in 2016: 1046 New York Ave. He built a three-story rental building on the lot with partner developer Renaissance Downtowns.

"I’ve lived in Huntington Township for the majority of my life," Havasy said. "I thought it would be really cool to develop a building in our hometown, especially something like this — a revitalization."

Havasy said he renovated 1078 New York Ave., in 2019, adding new cabinets, appliances and flooring. He bought 1090 New York Ave. in 2022, according to property records.

Converting historic home

The 1090 New York Ave. building was previously a historic house known as the Teich house, named after a doctor by the same name who lived and worked there, according to the Town of Huntington Historical Society. Havasy extended the back of the building, and converted it into a nine-unit property.

Rents at 1078 New York Ave., range from around $3,200 to $3,500 for the three two-bedroom units, while the six one-bedroom units run from approximately $2,500 to $2,800, Havasy said. At 1090 New York Ave., the four, market-rate one-bedrooms range from around $2,750 to $3,100 while the four, market-rate two-bedrooms range from about $3,000 to $4,000.

1090 New York Ave., has one workforce housing unit, priced at $2,100 per month, Havasy added.

Part of what makes multifamily buildings attractive to investors is the limited number of apartments available for rent on Long Island, said Shimon Shkury, the president and Founder of Manhattan-based Ariel Property Advisors, investment sales and advisory firm.

"Where supply is constrained, the thesis is, in the long term rents will grow," Shkury said.

Blue & Gold landed 15 years of tax breaks for three of its developments: 1046 New York Ave., 1080 New York Ave., and 1100 New York Ave.

Blue & Gold had planned to sell the 16-unit property at 1080 New York Ave., for nearly $9 million in April, according to the developer’s application to the Suffolk IDA. But the buyer walked away from the sale, and Havasy said he plans to put the property back on the market for about $9.3 million later this year.