Developer gets $333,000 in tax breaks to revamp Long Beach medical center
A rendering of a new insurance building proposed at the site of a long shuttered medical center in Long Beach. Credit: Starock Group
Nassau County has awarded nearly $333,240 in tax breaks to a developer proposing to open an insurance office on the site of a derelict medical center in Long Beach.
The county’s Industrial Development Agency granted the tax incentives last week. They consist of a sales-tax exemption of up to $258,750 on the purchase of construction materials, supplies and furnishings, up to $48,750 off the mortgage-recording tax and property tax savings of $25,738 over 15 years.
Long Beach won't see any reduction in property-tax revenue, city officials said, citing an agreement they negotiated for Starock Group to pay for the city services it receives.
The developer, which is based in Hartford, Connecticut, plans to remake the three-story building at 367 W. Park Ave. The 33,000-square-foot structure has been vacant for about 20 years.
The top two floors of what was once the Sunrise Medical Center would be rented by an insurer whose identity hasn’t been disclosed in the application for IDA assistance or in negotiations with the agency, officials said. The ground floor would be used by a retailer, the application states.
“The building has been vacant for a while, resulting in physical and economic deterioration,” said John P. Gordon, Starock’s real estate attorney. “So, it needs a complete overhaul,” including structural steel to create a more open environment and new lighting, plumbing and elevators.
He told the IDA meeting last week that Starock plans to spend $10 million on building improvements but cannot do so without tax breaks.
Last December, when Starock first sought the IDA’s help, attorney Daniel P. Deegan, who also represents the company, said the insurer that would rent part of the remodeled building has considered leaving New York State for Florida. The insurer is proposing to move 50 employees from its current office elsewhere in Nassau to Long Beach, he told the IDA.
The West Park Avenue building was constructed in the mid-1990s for Sunrise Sports, which offered physical therapy, hydrotherapy and orthopedic care for people injured at work or playing sports. The medical center replaced a grocery store with a second-floor office, according to the Newsday archives.
The center closed about 20 years ago, and ensuing proposals for a 64-unit apartment complex and 67 one-bedroom apartments for seniors were scuttled after neighbors and city officials objected, the archives show.
Long Beach officials support the redevelopment plan because “it puts a property that was basically taxed as vacant back on the tax rolls as a fully functioning commercial property,” Greg Kalnitsky, the city’s corporation counsel, said in an interview.
William Rockensies, IDA chairman, said, the developer “is getting rid of an eyesore in the community, turning it into great office space and creating jobs in Long Beach.”
James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.
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