East Patchogue senior housing project moving forward with help from tax breaks

A plan to build an East Patchogue retirement community will move forward, with the help of thousands of dollars in tax breaks, and amid increased demand for affordable senior housing on Long Island. 

The Brookhaven Industrial Development Agency approved the tax breaks May 27 for a plan from Kelly Developers to build 64 apartments on 13 acres of land south of Sunrise Highway.

The Farmingville-based company would spend about $29.6 million on the new building west of Hewlett Avenue, including roughly $3.3 million to buy the land, currently owned by CTA Associates and a group of individual investors, according to company president Michael Kelly's IDA application.

The apartments, including 14 units set aside for renters with lower incomes, would be reserved for residents 55 and older, according to Kelly’s application. The developer estimated that the market-rate two-bedroom units would range from around $3,300 to $3,800 per month, according to the application.

The IDA approval comes as the region sees fierce competition for apartments and high demand for senior rentals, as older Long Islanders look to stay on the Island, said Jonathan Miller, director of markets for StreetMatrix, a New York-based platform that tracks local home prices.

"As boomers get to retirement age, we’re seeing a slowdown in the automatic retirement journey to Florida [so] we have this boom in demand for 55-and-older housing in Long Island," Miller said.

Other developments targeting those 55 and older include Medford Gardens and Bayport Gardens, which in May both offered apartments through two housing lotteries. In March, a developer proposed building 130 new apartments on the site of the former Central Islip Psychiatric Center, mostly reserved for occupants 55 and older.

The income-restricted units in the East Patchogue retirement community would be reserved for those making up to 80% of the area median income (AMI), or $102,500 for a family of two on Long Island, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Under the town and IDA requirements, four apartments would be set aside for those making up to 50% of the AMI, three units would be reserved for those making 65%, and seven rented to those making 80%, said Timothy Shea Jr., a partner at the law firm Certilman Balin, which is representing the developer.

The IDA awarded Kelly Developers up to $187,500 in mortgage recording tax exemptions and up to $753,418 in sales tax exemptions, plus a 17-year tax-abatement agreement, where the developer will make payments starting at $6,000 and rising to $557,703, according to the IDA board meeting packet from May 27.

Those tax benefits bring the project one step closer to breaking ground, but the developer still needs to secure building permits from the Town of Brookhaven. If approved, Kelly would start construction between December and February, Shea said.

Last year, the Brookhaven Town Board rezoned the 13-acre plot to allow multifamily housing for older residents, rather than only single-family homes, despite concerns about traffic and the environment.

At the time, some residents worried that the project would increase traffic in the neighborhood. Eric Russo, a Sayville lawyer representing St. Joseph’s University, which is next door to the presently undeveloped East Patchogue site, recalled to Newsday on Tuesday that before the board went ahead and approved the project, he told town officials of the school's concern that future residents would take issue with the lights at its sports complex.

A representative of the nonprofit Save the Great South Bay raised concerns last year about the development’s potential environmental impact. Executive Director Robyn Silvestri said that while she did not have a position on the project, she hoped the environment would be taken into consideration.

Shea said the developer moved the project away from the steeper slopes near Hewlett Avenue and away from the wetlands.

"We designed the site with a mindset towards being sensitive to the neighborhood and the environment," he said.