Levy negotiates $57M Legacy Village
sale price
Contract
sent to Legislature the day before it closed out public hearing
The Suffolk County Legislature made it clear last month
that it wouldn't vote on a resolution to declare 255 acres of county-owned land
in Yaphank surplus until a deal was in place to sell the land to the builders
looking to develop the site.
One day before a public hearing on the matter was set to resume, the Legislature learned a deal had been struck. A contract delivered to the Legislature Monday shows that County Executive Steve Levy has offered to sell the land to the Legacy Village Real Estate Group for $57.5 million.
The
group -- a hybrid of the Katter development company and the Beechwood
group -- has proposed the construction of 1,000 affordable housing units on the
site, which would also be developed for commercial, industrial and recreational
purposes. The plan calls for a 5,500-seat arena and outdoor stadium, 90-room
hotel, retail stores, four restaurants, 70 rental apartments and 50,000 square
feet of office space.
The sale price computes to about $225,000 per acre.
Under
the terms of the proposal, the developer would owe the county $1.5 million with
the signing of a letter of intent to sell. An additional $1 million would be
owed within four months of the passing of the bill currently before the
Legislature -- legislation which approves the sale and declares the land
surplus.
Getting
to that point may prove to be a bit challenging. Presiding officer William
Lindsay (D-Holbrook) said he believed the Legislature, which on Tuesday closed
out a public hearing that lasted two meetings and included nearly six hours of
public comment, needed more time to review the sales contract. The bill will
now go before the Legislature's Ways and Means Committee.
"We're certainly not ready to vote on this now," Mr.
Lindsay said.
Several
legislators and members of the public questioned moving forward with a sale
when there has been no recent appraisal of the property. Regina Seltzer, an
attorney who spoke out in opposition to the project on both days of the public
hearing, said doing so could open the county up to a lawsuit, a claim the Legislature's
counsel disputed.
Deputy
County Executive Christopher Kent said an appraisal was done on the property in
December 2006, a date that didn't sit well with Legis.
John Kennedy (R-Nesconset).
"I'm
glad to hear there was an appraisal," the legislator said to Mr. Kent, who
declined to discuss how much the appraisal deemed the land worth. "But if
the appraisal was done in 2006, you'd have to agree that's quite the stale
appraisal."
Mr.
Most of
the public comment Tuesday was from building tradesmen in support of the
project and environmental and civic leaders opposed to it. Several
representatives of the Long Island Lizards lacrosse team spoke in approval of
the project, saying they look forward to one day calling the sports stadium
home. A representative of the Long Island Housing Partnership testified to the
need for affordable housing, saying the project would help provide a solution
to that problem.
Longwood
Board of Education vice president Daniel Tomaszewski
drew the most questions from the Legislature over his concern that the number
of school-age children Mr. Levy has said the project would generate -- an
estimate he said is "too conservative."
Mr.
Levy has stated in several public settings that the proposed one- and
two-bedroom units would result in fewer than 100 new students in the district. Legis. Louis D'Amaro (D-North
Babylon) said Mr. Levy has indicated to him that the project might generate
"a couple-hundred" new students.
Mr.
"That's
.15 children per unit," he said.