Op-Ed

Who are the politicians really representing?

Civic association president questions Superblock deal for iStar

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There isn’t much that Democrats and Republicans agree on these days. But they still seem to find common ground when it comes to doling out sweetheart deals.

On June 3, the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency held a hearing at City Hall to gather public input on a proposed 25-year, $128.6 million tax break for the developer of the Superblock, Long Beach Wayfarer LLC — comprising iStar and AvalonBay. It is seeking a $122.6 million property tax exemption and a $6 million sales tax exemption through a payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, program.

The IDA — whose members are appointed by, and answer to, County Executive Ed Mangano, a Republican — is the body that would grant these exemptions.

The developer is also seeking a $1.5 million mortgage tax recording exemption from the City of Long Beach, a break that has been tentatively granted by the city’s Local Development Corporation, whose members are appointed by the Democratic-controlled City Council.

The merits of the Superblock project aren’t the issue here. The Zoning Board of Appeals, whose members are also appointed by the council, approved the developer’s plan last year to build 522 rental apartments in two 160-foot-tall towers. The issue is whether the developer should be given more than $130 million in tax breaks by Nassau County and Long Beach.

iStar, a nearly $6 billion company, said it had the financial ability to bring this project to completion and was ready to move ahead within 90 days of ZBA approval. But iStar is now telling a very different story, saying the project is not viable without the requested tax break — even though it brought in AvalonBay, another large real estate developer, as a partner.

iStar Executive Vice President Karl Frey has said that the PILOT is necessary to jumpstart the project, and is something “every major residential construction project on Long Island receives.”

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