Rent Billy Joel’s Oyster Bay office for less than $2K a month, Kings Point mansion inspired by Versailles hits market again at $35M & more Long Island real estate news

Billy Joel’s Oyster Bay office available for less than $2K per month
The Piano Man’s longtime Oyster Bay office can now be rented for $1,975 a month, according to Newsday. Billy Joel used the space at 34 Audrey Avenue for 15 years before movin’ out in April, the building’s owner Terry Sciubba told the outlet. (Sciubba is also a broker with Sherlock Homes Realty in Sea Cliff.) The structure was built in 1904 and dubbed the Powers Building after its original owner, Bernard H. Powers, a contractor, postmaster and local baseball team manager, who ran his business from there. Joel’s former office is about 400 square feet with two rooms on the first floor, half the basement and a private parking space. Sciubba has also listed the entire building for sale at $979,000. Other tenants include an information technology firm and a building company. [Newsday]

Kings Point mansion inspired by Versailles has price cut to $35M
10 Spring Knoll, a 26,600-square-foot bayfront estate on the North Shore inspired by France’s Palais de Versailles and featured in the 1993 film “Carlito’s Way,” has hit the market again seeking $35 million, according to the Daily Voice Plus. Construction on the home in the affluent enclave of Kings Point, a village within Great Neck, started in 1993, the same year that the movie starring Al Pacino and Sean Penn was released. The DVP, along with the Robb Report, noted that “Carlito’s Way” showed a beachfront party as a shell of the mansion rose in the background. Construction was completed in 2002. The couple who built the home sought to emulate Old World opulence by sourcing marble from Italy and the same quarry that supplied Versailles, obtained a 400-year-old Parquet de Versailles flooring plan from a French château and a marble fountain from the Rothschilds’ Villa Ephrussi in the south of France. The home has six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, 10 half-bathrooms, a hand-painted ceiling with gold leaf and floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over Manhasset Bay. Other amenities include a 12-seat home theater and a gym, library and billiards room walled with gilded French Cordoba leather. The grounds on the 3-acre property also have an infinity pool with Italian blue marble and a long deepwater dock. The property, whose annual property taxes are reportedly almost $102,000, had first listed for $35 million, but then had its ask increased to $50 million in October 2018, before coming down again, according to the Island Now. Jason Friedman of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing. [DVP]

Riverhead can’t pick lawyers for vetting of $40M EPCAL deal
The Riverhead Town Board couldn’t decide last week between two law firms vying to offer legal advice on the pending $40 million sale of more than 1,600 acres at the Enterprise Park at Calverton, Newsday reported. Riverhead residents and three board members wanted to consult with legal experts because one of the potential buyers, Luminati Aerospace, is facing a slew of legal issues. The board was trying to choose between Stagg, Terenzi, Confusione & Wabnik and Lazer, Aptheker, Rosella & Yedid, but neither law firm got enough votes to put it over the top. The bid for legal assistance came after Luminati was sued for defaulting on the conditions of a $10 million promissory note. The company, which partnered with an aviation subsidiary of Canada’s Triple Five Group to buy the EPCAL land, failed to pay rent on a building at the site it was already using. One of the board members who opposed getting any legal help was Tim Hubbard, who argued doing so would imperil Riverhead’s chances of getting $10 million in state funds to revitalize its downtown. Hubbard hopes to meet with the town’s attorney handling the deal, Frank Isler, before considering outside counsel. [Newsday]

Lufthansa lands Nassau tax breaks for HQ move to Uniondale
Nassau County’s Industrial Development Agency approved German aviation giant Lufthansa’s bid to get tax aid for moving its Americas headquarters from East Meadow to Uniondale, according to Newsday. The Lufthansa bid was opposed by members of Local 100 of the Unite Here union, which has been negotiating with the airline’s subsidiary, LSG Sky Chefs. Union members have claimed they are not getting proper benefits. “I don’t think it’s fair for them to get a break, but we’re not getting anything,” Carol Walters, a Sky Chefs food preparer, told the IDA board in a recent hearing. IDA board members, while reportedly moved by the workers’ testimony, allowed the tax breaks to go through. Lufthansa got a sales-tax exemption of up to $248,000 on the purchase of construction materials, equipment and fixtures for the $5.7 million office being built for its across from the renovated Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The IDA board did also insert itself into Lufthansa’s contract negotiations, asking the airline to engage in more constructive talks with its union workers. [Newsday]

Developer gets IDA aid for $6.3M Ronkonkoma industrial buy
Suffolk County granted early approval for tax breaks to the Milvado Property Group for its $6.3 million purchase of a vacant industrial site in Ronkonkoma, Newsday reported. The Syosset-based real estate firm wants to acquire the 49,850-square-foot space at 10 Drew Court and update 13 industrial condominium units that sit vacant there. The idea by Milvado, one of the more active industrial developers on Long Island, is to create a space for small companies to gradually expand. “A tenant could be a company that is currently in their basement or garage and this could be their first space out of that environment to grow their company,” said Anthony Catapano, executive director of the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency. The IDA granted preliminary approval for a sales tax exemption of up to $103,500 on renovation costs, a $26,250 mortgage recording tax exemption and a 10-year deal on property taxes. All told, Milvado will save about $289,686 in property taxes over the next 10 years. Milvado, which told the IDA it expects its project to create 60 jobs, plans to close on its purchase of the site in July and begin leasing units next year. The company already owns 36 other properties on Long Island, according to Newsday, including more than 2 million square feet of space in Suffolk. [Newsday]