International Asbestos Removal seeks tax breaks, faces hurdles in quest to relocate to Sayville

A contractor business wants more than $300,000 in tax breaks to move into the old Rite Aid property on Sayville’s Main Street, but the hamlet’s town board representative contends the project doesn’t have enough economic payoff to justify the subsidies.

Babylon-based International Asbestos Removal, the company behind the proposal, does work ranging from the installation of HVAC systems to the removal of lead and asbestos from old buildings, according to Islip Economic Development Director John Walser.

The company wants to relocate its headquarters to 101 Main St. in Sayville, a 0.75-acre property that houses the now-empty 13,035-square-foot former pharmacy. It’s less than 500 feet from the remains of the Main Street stores that were devastated by a fire in 2024.

International Asbestos is asking Islip Town's Industrial Development Agency, or IDA, for an estimated $321,000 worth of tax breaks over the next 10 years to help it renovate and move into the existing Main Street building, according to Walser and the tentative proposed IDA contract. In exchange, the company promised its project would support 56 jobs in Islip, whether those positions are brought in from Babylon or created anew.  

Retail vs. other uses

But Islip Town Board member John Lorenzo said a project that would make office space out of retail property in Sayville’s recovering downtown doesn’t warrant town tax breaks.

“We have a downtown Sayville that is going through a transition right now — there are many stores and businesses coming in and out,” Lorenzo said. “I don’t see the economic development portion of this application.”

Islip’s five-member town board, which also governs the IDA, voted unanimously March 24 to hold off on deciding whether to subsidize the project. International Asbestos did not respond to a request for comment.

The IDA often grants tax breaks to companies that promise to create jobs or specialized housing, but it rarely does so for projects in retail-heavy areas such as Main Street Sayville.

“IDAs have a prohibition on retail, that’s why you don’t see a lot of projects in our downtown areas,” Walser said. “This is a corporate headquarters, so it would be an office setting.”

Islip's zoning rules allow for everything from barber shops to museums and office spaces on the Sayville property, but Lorenzo was unconvinced that the IDA should subsidize a shift away from retail in the downtown corridor.

“That space has been retail forever — as long as I remember it has been retail,” he said. “IDA benefits, I believe, should have some kind of downtown economic draw if it’s going to be used in the downtown.”

$5M capital investment seen

International Asbestos' tentative IDA deal would include about $75,000 in sales tax breaks and another roughly $13,500 in mortgage recording tax breaks, according to Walser.

The company also would get a decade-long discount on its property tax bill, which totaled about $84,719 in 2026. Walser estimates the discount would be worth about $233,000 over the 10-year period, during which the company would still pay about $699,000 in property taxes.

“It represents a $5 million capital investment,” Walser said about the project. “They will bring 45 professionals — including administrators, estimators, project managers and supervisors — and that number is expected to grow to 56 within two years.”

IDAs can claw back tax breaks if job creation targets aren't met, but Islip's rarely does. For example, the town has yet to rescind $2.6 million in subsidies it granted a warehouse on Veterans Memorial Highway in 2021, which remained empty as of the end of last month, despite being required to find a tenant by March. 

It’s unclear whether the International Asbestos project will be reconsidered by Islip’s IDA. The next town board meeting is scheduled for April 21.

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.