Islandia amends restrictions for site of Trader Joe's distribution hub

Islandia removed a legal hurdle for a future Trader Joe's distribution hub in the village by replacing decades-old restrictions imposed on the project site, which once housed Computer Associates' headquarters.

Construction is already well underway at the roughly 66-acre property at the southwest corner of Motor Parkway and Bedford Avenue, just west of Jake’s 58 Hotel Casino. Computer Associates employed roughly 3,000 people at the site during its peak in 2000, before the company relocated to Manhattan in 2014.

Trader Joe's bought the site last August for $118.6 million with plans to transform it into a distribution hub that would serve 13 stores in the metro area, Newsday previously reported. Islandia’s village board approved the planned 922,084-square-foot facility in July.

But seven contracts placed restrictions on the property for decades, some dating to the 1970s. They ranged from a requirement that it house only offices, to rules mandating that 6-foot-tall chain-link fences be installed around on-site dumpsters. Five of those contracts were penned before Islandia became a village in 1985.

Islandia’s village board unanimously voted earlier this month to void those contracts to allow for Trader Joe’s distribution hub, which will include three single-story buildings, the largest of which will be a 756,454-square-foot warehouse with office space. 

The village also adopted a new contract that places more than a dozen other restrictions on the property. For example: Construction can’t happen after 7 p.m. on weekdays, tractor trailers going to the site must avoid Old Nichols Road, and the property owner must cooperate with Islandia’s effort to get wastewater flowing to 8 acres of village-owned land east of the project site. 

Those rules, as well as numerous other restrictions, will apply to anyone who owns the property unless the contract is changed in the future. 

A village spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the new restrictions.

A Trader Joe's spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a question about how many employees would work at the site once the project is complete.

Photos taken Tuesday show the skeleton of a massive facility under construction. It's unclear how far along the project is or when it's expected to be complete. The spokeswoman for the national grocery store chain, Nakia Rohde, told Newsday via email that no updates were available on the project.

Newsday's Tory Parrish contributed to this story.

By Sam Kmack

sam.kmack@newsday.com

Sam Kmack covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California and previously worked as a city watchdog reporter in the Phoenix metro area, as well as an investigative journalist at the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting.