Boom Island

Several Major Projects in the Pipeline on Long Island

By Nichole Altmix

Manhattan is not the only area that is expanding. In terms of development, Long Island has exploded over the last few years.

Plans for the $120 million redevelopment of Riverhead call for a combination of 100 office and residential buildings and a 30,000 mixed-use facility near the Peconic River.

“Business is absolutely booming in Long Island,” said Marc Spector, president of Spector Group, a New York City-based architectural firm that does considerable work on Long Island.

Although construction on many of Long Island’s biggest projects is in its early stages, many projects are in the development pipeline.

Large projects such as the $200 million Tanger Outlet Stores’ “Arches at Deer Park,” and the proposed, $2 billion Nassau Coliseum re-development, as well as smaller office and retail projects, such as the $30 million Melville Corporate Center III, and the $35 million Touro Law Center in Central Islip, have turned northern Long Island into a hotbed of development and construction activity, thanks, perhaps to the runoff of the construction boom nearby New York City has experienced the last five years.

 “What happens here is because of the New York economy,” says Ted Weiss, CEO of T.Weiss Realty Corp., developer of Melville Corporate Center III.

Price per-acre acre of land on Long Island is escalating, says Spector, but construction costs are stabilized and there is a very high demand for good design and architecture, making Long Island ripe for development.

“There are larger residential developments dotted all around Long Island for two reasons, because it is a great place to live and because many offices are being relocated outside of the city,” Spector adds. “Long Island is the next logical area of growth.”

The largest project on the table is in its infancy, but could prove to be a boon to the Nassau County economy. A planned, mixed-use development that includes the dramatic renovation of the aging Nassau Coliseum, home to the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders, is expected to be a new suburban hub for sports, entertainment and tourism with additional housing an office space.

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Nassau County officials are on board with the project, proposed by Islanders owner Charles Wang and developer Scott Rechler, who formed Lighthouse Development Group for the sole purpose of the redevelopment. The pair, however, must still submit a formal plan to town officials in Hempstead, who hold the zoning rights to the 77-acre site.

“The county is doing its part,” says Joe Calderoni, spokesman for Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi. “This is one of [Suozzi’s] top priorities for the remainder of his term. He’s fully behind the proposal and wants to see it happen.”

Wang and Rechler, who were did not return requests to be interviewed for this story, recently hired Baltimore-based Development Design Group, as well as Spector’s firm as their master planning team.

 Meanwhile, work has already begun on the initial phase of the 850,000-sq-ft Arches at Deer Park, the other high-profile Long Island project. The outlet, designed by North Carolina-based Adams + Associates Architecture, will include several major retailers, including the recently-confirmed Neiman Marcus, and will also feature restaurants and a movie theater. The complex, developed by Syosset’s Blumenfeld Development Group, which is also helming construction, is expected to be Long Island’s first LEED-certified mall. At press time, 14 of the complex’s 16 foundations had been laid, and steel work was completed on four buildings.

Workers added another rail spur on the Long Island Rail Road for debris removal during the construction process.

"We wanted this project to be completely community friendly, so we took the necessary steps to ensure un-interruption," said Mike Classi, project manager for Aurora Contractors, general contractors on the project.

The Arches will be Tanger’s second Long Island development, having opened another outlet mall in Riverhead in the 1990s.

The second Tanger Outlet development, on schedule to open in fall of 2008, will have completely different features from its predecessor's internal parking, independant sections and circular design. The new development will feature an "old world, Italian village feel … where visitors can walk the entire center," said Aurora Contractors Vice President Frank Vero Jr.

Thirty miles outside of NYC, shoppers will be able to visit a Regal cinema with 16 theaters and a featured Christmas tree shop. According to Vero, about 50% of the space has already been leased.

Elsewhere on Long Island, Spector Group is serving the master planner for three other notable projects: the redevelopment efforts of downtown Riverhead and central Suffolk County, as well as Enterprise Park of Calverton.

The $120 million Riverhead renovation includes transforming the dilapidated waterfront of the Peconic River into open space with a lush, green park and a man-made lake, redeveloping the 12-acre area around East Main Street. Seven of those acres will comprise the downtown business district.

The renovation would also make way for a 14-screen multiplex, a combination of 100 office buildings and residential units, including a 30,000-square-foot mixed-use building by the river.

Enterprise Park of Calverton (EPCAL) is also in the works. Spector’s focus is to help the community of Calverton in terms of growth. “They have the acreage, and they need the development to sustain themselves to thrive in growth,” says Jane Gertler, Associate Director of Marketing for Spector Group. The town is currently selling off pieces to different developers, included Rechler’s firm, Rechler Equities, which is also partial owner.   

There’s no clear leader in terms of the hottest sector on Long Island, as current plans include institutional an infrastructure, in addition to residential, retail, and entertainment.

“One doesn’t happen without the other, because they feed off each other. Each sector flows together to support the other, to run concurrently,” says Spector, adding that he expects the development boom to continue for at least another decade.

T.Weiss Realty Corp. just completed its latest project, Melville Corporate Center III at 224 South Service Road. The 133,050 square foot class A office space is located at the heart of Melville where the four main road of Long Island Northern State Parkway, Long Island Express, Route 110 and Southern State Parkway intersect, the area locally known as “The Wall Street of Long Island.”

Since the late 1990s, T. Weiss Realty Corp. has seen a 15-20% increase in business annually and typically put up a building every two years, according to Weiss. The last three office buildings T. Weiss developed are filled to capacity. Weiss believes most of the demand for office space in Long Island followed the September 11 terrorist attacks. “Long Island has benefited from employees avoiding higher prices [of Manhattan] and city congestion and the aftermath of 9/11.”

With the Melville Corporate Center III completed, T. Weiss Realty Corp. will now focus on projects in Hauppauge and Massapequa as well as additional ones in Melville, including a 260,000-sq-ft office building they are beginning to develop.

Weiss, who has seen three high and low cycles in his career, tries to keep on top of the market by developing buildings that express his niche “Hyatt-like atriums, with comfortable chairs, where young professionals can work on laptops, enjoy a cup of coffee and then head off to the office.”