Bagel factory to bring jobs (& bialys) to O’side

B&S Bialys-Bagels by Bell Ltd. may soon come to Ocean-side, according to co-owner Jared Bell, who credits the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency as instrumental in getting his firm to consider the town.

Bell’s company had also considered New Jersey as the site of its new plant. “Property is dirt cheap in New Jersey, but we didn’t want to go to New Jersey,” said Bell. In order to make the Oceanside facility more attractive, the IDA negotiated a payment in lieu of taxes or PILOT incentive. Both New York State and Nassau County granted PILOTS to Bell. In return for the tax break, B&S will move to Oceanside and will hire locals.

Bell said the company would like to move as many of its 42 employees from its current Carnarsie, Brooklyn location as possible. The Carnarsie location will close. Then the company plans to add 30 more positions. Eventually, Bell said, he hopes to have more then 100 employees at the Oceanside plant, because the company wants to expand its bialy business — and the product is made by hand.

Bell is the third generation in his family to go into the bialys-bagel business. “The business fell into my grandfather’s lap,” he said, referring to his grandfather Martin Bell. “I don’t know how he got the business,” but B&S started in 1947 in a basement in Borough Park, Brooklyn, then moved to Flatlands Avenue and 81st Street in Brooklyn. When Jared’s father, Warren, took over, they moved to the firm’s current location at 10013 Foster Ave. in Carnarsie, for more space about 20 years ago. Now Warren is turning the company over to Jared.

They are moving from a 10,000-square-foot operation to a new 30,000-square-foot building in Oceanside, at 3333-3345 Royal Ave. The Oceanside building was damaged by Hurricane Sandy and has been vacant since the storm. The company only needs 21,500 feet of the new facility now, but as B&S expands, it will utilize the rest of the space, according to Bell. The move will costthe company between $500,000 and $1 million, Bell said.

IDA Executive Director Joseph Kearney said that Bell was granted $15,488 relief on mortgage recording taxes, an estimated $46,834 on sales and use taxes, and PILOT payments for 15 years. The PILOTs are frozen at the base amount at the time of the actual sale for three years, then have an annual increase of .73 percent from year four to year 15 (current taxes are $92,106). In year 16, the property reverts back to the tax rolls. Kearney said that the taxes would not be lowered for the life of the agreement. Bell also received a $400,000 incentive from the Empire State Development Corp., the IDA for the state, and low cost gas and electricity from PSEG and National Grid. In all the company will receive over $250,000 in tax benefits, and generate about $275,000 in economic benefits for Nassau County.

Kearney noted that B&S ships worldwide, “and now that money will be coming back here to Oceanside.”