Suffolk IDA offers tax incentives to tempt Estée Lauder to open $14.5M Melville facility
The Industrial Development Agency for Suffolk County offered up $895,000 in tax breaks to Estée Lauder in an effort to sway the cosmetics company to open a $14.5 million-dollar facility in Melville, rather than other locations its considering like New Jersey or Pennsylvania. The two states have made similar incentive offers to the company, Newsday reported. Estée Lauder already employs 2,502 people on Long Island and the expansion would add another 31 jobs to that tally. The company has proposed expanding its existing Melville facilities by renting an adjacent 51,580-square-foot building, which would require pricey upgrades. Estée Lauder is also trying to shrink its electrical bill from utilities companies and to get additional tax breaks from Empire State Development. [Newsday]
Developer pitches $75M apartment project for Lynbrook
Farmingdale-based Terwilliger & Bartone Properties wants to build a $75-million-dollar 200-unit apartment complex in Lynbrook, where they’re also planning to build a 400-car parking garage and 9,000-square-foot park for public use. The complex — dubbed the Cornerstone at Lynbrook — would have a mix of studios along with one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, with 10 percent of the units offered at a lower “workforce rate,” Long Island Business News reported. They plan to offer amenities including a gym, courtyard, rooftop patio and club room. A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for next month. Terwilliger & Bartone Properties was the developer behind the similarly named Cornerstone Farmingdale. [LIBN]
Great Neck officials require Millbrook Court developer to provide LIRR shuttle service
When Great Neck officials approved Freeport-based Northshore Millbrook’s plan to demolish part of its apartment complex Millbrook Court to make way for three new buildings, they did so with one condition: that the developer must provide a shuttle from the complex to the LIRR station. The idea is to offset the potential influx of new residents and additional cars on the road. The agreement stipulates that developer has to offer the shuttle for three years, but can stop the service after that if ridership is below 35 people per day. Town officials will ask future developers to follow similar plans, according to Newsday. Northshore’s project would demolish one building and parts of two others before building two four-story buildings and one three story building, bringing the total number of units in the complex up to 186. [Newsday]
Smithtown OKs 160 units in two rental developments
The Smithtown Town Council approved two projects — one from East Hampton-based developer Salvatore DiCarlo and one from TDG Commack, a subsidiary of the DiNoto Group. DiCarlo plans to build 62 apartments and 9,416 feet of retail space in what is now an empty lot across from Smithtown town hall. TDG Commack applied to build 98 apartments for those 55 and older on the current site of the vacant Courtesy Inn in Commack. The developers still need to get the go ahead from the Suffolk County Health Department. Demolition and building could begin in Commack this fall, with the Smithtown project’s construction kicking off in the spring. [Newsday]
Young Long Islanders face steeper home prices and lower wages than their parents did
It’s much harder for young Long Island adults to strike out on their own than it was for their parents, Newsday reported. Wages have dropped by 22 percent while home prices have climbed 150 percent, according to a study from the Long Island Association. In 2016, Long Islanders between 25 and 34 earned an average of $40,000 a year. In 1970, numbers adjusted for inflation show the median salary was $51,458. At that same time, the median home price was under $180,000, but that’s since leaped up to $450,000 in 2017. Those numbers have kept Long Islanders at home with their parents, with only about 36.5 percent of them either renting or buying their own home. That’s down from 86 percent in 1970. “We need to make sure that we are not putting any roadblocks in the way of millennials who are trying to get their own place,” said Kevin Law of the Long Island Association. [Newsday]