Developer seeks tax breaks in bid to buy Lake Ronkonkoma senior apartment complex

A New York-based developer is looking to buy a large senior apartment complex in Lake Ronkonkoma with the help of tax benefits the company says are needed to keep the units affordable for hundreds of residents. 

L+M Companies, one of the nation’s largest owners of affordable housing, submitted an application to the Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency in May to buy 336 apartments, known as Brookwood on the Lake, for more than $125 million, according to L+M’s application.

In exchange, the company asked for 30 years of tax benefits to keep the apartments affordable in the long-term as Long Island faces a shortage of affordable homes.

The apartments, at 1507 Round Pond Rd., are rented to low-income seniors aged 62 or older who pay 30% of their income toward rent while the federal government makes up the rest through the Section 8 program, Amanda Ryzowy, a partner at L+M, told the IDA on May 27. 

Ryzowy told the IDA that L+M would buy the property and renew the Section 8 contract next year — if L+M was awarded the tax benefits. 

“This is an at-risk property," she said at the meeting. “This is private capital coming in and saying: ‘I can give the IDA these units now, and we can restrict them as affordable for the next 30 years.’ ”

If L+M acquires the building, it plans to renew the Section 8 contract with HUD for another 20 years and would “commit to extending that contract” for another term, L+M’s attorney Andrew Presberg told the IDA on May 27.

Brookwood on the Lake is the largest senior, affordable community in the Town of Brookhaven, according to a 2025 report on housing, which the economic development consulting firm Camoin Associates prepared for the IDA. But the contract that keeps the apartments affordable is set to expire in September 2027, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which oversees the Section 8 program.

Current owner Brookwood Ronkonkoma LLC or a new buyer, such as L+M, could decide to renew the contract. If they do not, the landlord must notify the tenants at least a year before the contract's expiration, said Luis Henriquez, the director of litigation Legal Services NYC’s Manhattan office. Tenants would be given housing vouchers, allowing them to stay at the complex or relocate, according to HUD guidance.

After the tenants move out, those apartments could be rented to new tenants at market rates, said Ellen Davidson, a staff attorney at the New York City-based Legal Aid Society.

The potential loss of the affordable apartments "is significant,” Davidson said. “I don’t have the sense that …Brookhaven has many options for families that need affordable housing.” 

Representatives for the property’s management company, Ridge-based Campbird Management Co., did not respond to requests for comment.

Developer plans renovations

In its IDA application, L+M requested that the property’s annual tax bill be reduced from about $820,000, according to property records, to a base of $400,000, which would rise by 3% per year over the course of a 30-year agreement with the IDA. 

L+M also requested up to $794,250 in mortgage recording tax exemptions and up to $766,500 in sales tax exemptions on renovations planned for the building.

The IDA accepted L+M’s application during the May meeting, but has yet to decide whether to grant the tax benefits. Presberg said L+M won’t go through with the purchase without an agreement with the IDA.

L+M also proposed spending $14.6 million to renovate the complex’s community center and apartments, according to its application.

That center is a popular spot for residents, said Ryzowy. Newsday spotted a handful of women walking into the center for a game of bingo on Monday morning.

But the facilities are in need an upgrade, she told the IDA. “The workout machines I think are from two decades ago. The library books that are taken out ... are worn,” Ryzowy said.

Newsday spoke with five residents at the complex, who said the common spaces and apartments need work.

L+M estimates the renovation work will create about 50 construction jobs. It also detailed plans to offer services at the property, such as a part-time nurse, according to a presentation L+M prepared for the IDA.

Limited affordable housing

Brookwood on the Lake’s 336 apartments represent 27% of all the affordable, senior apartments in the Town of Brookhaven, according to a 2025 report on housing prepared for the IDA.

The complex holds 84 studio apartments, 196 one-bedroom units and 56 two-bedroom apartments. The average rent for an apartment at Brookwood is about $2,474 per month, according to L+M’s IDA application.

That’s well below the median rent for an apartment in Suffolk — $2,943 as of June 3, according to CoStar.

L+M has bought, renovated and developed other affordable housing buildings across New York City and Connecticut.

In Staten Island, the company and other investors announced a $165 million renovation on the borough’s Park Hill apartments, the Staten Island Advance reported. In Manhattan, it purchased 1,600 apartments in 2024, with plans to spend $50 million on renovations, over objections of residents who feared being displaced, The Real Deal reported.

Federally subsidized housing is often attractive to owners, because it provides a steady income, said Kim Darga, vice president and New York market leader for Enterprise Community Partners.

It also provides an incentive for the owner to stay in the Section 8 program.

“It is typical, if not the norm, for owners to work to extend the contract at the end of the term,” Darga said.