Alfonse D'Amato

Sanity prevails in Long Beach

Posted

The verdict is in. As things stand now, the residents of the City of Long Beach will not be funding a $128 million tax break for luxury billionaire developer iStar.

After months of negotiations, the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency announced that it had rejected iStar’s request for a 25-year, $128.6 million tax break to build two luxury apartment towers on the vacant Superblock property along the city’s beachfront.

The developer claimed that the $300 million project would revitalize the six-acre Superblock, property that has been vacant for over 30 years. While residents weren’t necessarily opposed to new development, the underlying question was still, how would they benefit? Never did they imagine that if the IDA agreed to this ridiculous deal it would be them, the taxpayers, who would be picking up the bill.

The Democratic regime that controls the City of Long Beach gave in to all of iStar’s outrageous demands. First, the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals gave the developer the right to build two 160-foot-tall towers, as well as 11,500 square feet of retail space for shops along the boardwalk. Then, in April, the City Council voted to enter into a host agreement with iStar, which included a promise for iStar to pay for certain “community enhancements.”

During the first public hearings in February 2014, iStar claimed that it had the financial wherewithal to cover the entire cost of the project, and was ready to begin right away. But after an extensive period of time passed with no action, iStar stated that its deal with the city hinged on the approval of a payment in lieu of taxes program, or PILOT, by the IDA. The developer was seeking an estimated $122.6 million property tax exemption, with an additional sales tax exemption of $6 million.

Had it not been for local leaders, such as County Legislator Denise Ford, standing up for taxpayers, there would have been a great chance that this behind-closed-doors deal would go through. Ford made sure that all of the hearings focusing on iStar’s project were public.

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