The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency canceled a public hearing on Tuesday morning on an application for $4.6 million in property tax breaks from a developer planning to build a 244-unit condominium complex in the Village of North Hills.
Village of North Hills Mayor Marvin Natiss met last Friday with Scott Rechler, an executive for condo developer RXR Realty, to discuss RXR’s IDA application for the project, the Ritz Carlton Residences at North Hills.
Robert Leonard, a spokesman for RXR, said the company had requested a delay in its application for a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, known as a PILOT, to allow “for further discussion and review of this issue prior to the public hearing,”
The decision, said, Leonard, followed the meeting between Natiss and Rechler.
“We’re trying to reach a compromise,” Natiss said.
Natiss declined to comment further on his discussions with Rechler, who also serves vice chairman of the board of commissioners of The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
In addition to the property tax reduction, RXR’s application filed with the county IDA as Midtown North Hills LLC on Dec. 20, 2012, requests an estimated sales tax exemption of $3.3 million and estimated mortgage tax exemption of $1.5 million. Existing property taxes on the undeveloped property of 16.3 acres adjacent to the Long Island Expressway in North Hills is $415,170, according to the application.
A week ago, Natiss objected to the RXR’s application, saying that the state’s intention in permitting IDAs to offer tax relief was to create industrial or manufacturing uses, not residential development.
“They just can’t keep granting these real estate people tax benefits. It reaches a point where the damage to the taxpayer far exceeds the benefits of having something like this built,” Natiss said. “What good is building it if it doesn’t go on the tax rolls?”
Natiss was joined in opposition by the Great Neck School District, which would serve residents of the proposed condominium projects and like the Village of North Hills stands to lose property tax revenues if the tax breaks are approved.
John Powell, assistant superintendent for business for the school district, said he had intended to testify in opposition to the application at the Tuesday hearing.
“We’re against it. We feel that every property owner should be paying their fair share of taxes,” Powell said Tuesday. “We should not be subsidizing a project where it appears the applicant does not meet the strict requirements to receive IDA financial assistance.”
The opposition of Natiss and Great Neck School district officials to tax breaks for Ritz Carlton Residences at North Hills mirrors their response to an application by the Bristal of North Hills for an extension of tax breaks given nearly 10 years ago. The county IDA withdrew the application after objections were raised by Natiss, the Great Neck and Herricks school districts and Nassau County Legislator Judi Boswoth.
Natiss has said he also objects to RXR’s plans, indicated in its IDA application, to initially lease the residential units at the Ritz Carlton Residences for one or two years before selling them. He said he has told RXR he won’t permit the project to go forward as rental residences.
“If you’re not going to build condos, I’m not issuing a permit. Period,” Natiss said.
RXR paid the Village of North Hills $21 million in lieu of community amenities when the North Hills Village Board approved the condo project in mid-November of 2006. Natiss said the payment was made because the project was approved as an incentive zoning plan that permits the developer to build units at a higher density rate than permitted under village zoning regulations.
Natiss said the village did not request or negotiate the $21 million payment. But he said that payment has no bearing on property taxes since the $21 million can only be used for village amenities.
In its IDA application, RXR cites the downturn of the real estate market and economy in requesting the tax breaks, saying they were “critical” to the Ritz Carlton project.
RXR, which is based in Uniondale, describes itself in the application as a company which manages or has interests in approximately $4.5 billion of assets comprising 105 operating properties and 17.1 million square feet of mixed-use assets, in addition to seven development properties in the New York tristate area under its corporate “umbrella.”
