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Rechler seeks extension on $18M land deal decision at EPCAL

The Riverhead Town Board will vote Thursday morning on a measure that would give Rechler Equity Partners three more months to decide if they want to go forward with their proposed $18 million purchase of 300 acres at the Enterprise Park at Calverton (EPCAL).

But that extra time will come at a price.

The town’s contract with Rechler, which is calling their project REPCAL, set Monday, July 26, as the deadline by which Rechler was to decide if it wanted to extend its contract with the town by another six months, according to town attorney Dawn Thomas. To do so, Rechler would have to pay the town $250,000, which would come off the overall purchase price and be held in escrow, Ms. Thomas said.

But Rechler has asked for more time to make its decision, and the Town Board is scheduled to vote on a resolution Thursday morning that would give Rechler until October to decide on the six-month extension. Those extra three months would come at a non-refundable cost of $125,000, which would go directly to the town, Ms. Thomas said. She said that if the deal ultimately closes, that $125,000 would be credited toward the $18 million purchase price.

The proposed amendment to the contract does not address proposed uses at the site. Earlier this year, Rechler asked the town to consider changing the proposed uses at the site to allow some residential and retail uses, although Town Board members later said they opposed that.

Rechler Equity Partners first went to contract with the town in 2007 to buy 300 acres of light industrial land at EPCAL for $35 million. In 2009, citing the economy, it convinced the town to drop the price to $18 million.

Rechler’s original plans for the site call for construction of a high-tech industrial park of 2.7 million square feet, a development that would be phased in over 10 years.

Rechler had said the project would generate some 3,700 construction jobs and 7,650 permanent jobs over 10 years.

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