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PODS, with building started, withdraws request for tax breaks

A group called Calverton Distribution Rte 25 has withdrawn its request for Riverhead Industrial Development Agenda tax incentives on a new 45,000-square-foot PODS building that was already under construction on Route 25 in Calverton, according to IDA chairman Tom Cruso.

The building is located next to the Riverhead Charter School on 6.3 acres, and the applicant was seeking a partial property tax abatement, along with sales tax exemptions on building materials associated with the construction, and county mortgage transfer tax abatements. The total value of the requested abatements was $628,188 over 10 years.

The request drew criticism because IDA tax incentives are intended to lure businesses to an area, and this proposal was already under construction.

At a Nov. 6 public hearing before the IDA, developer Gary Krupnick said the existing PODS (personal on demand storage) building in the Enterprise Park at Calverton had to move because Riverhead Town officials wanted that space to be used by aviation manufacturer Luminati Aerospace.

Mr. Krupnick told the IDA that his financier on the project, Bridgehampton National Bank, asked him to seek IDA incentives to help reduce costs.

Asked whether the project would proceed if the IDA did not grant the requested tax incentives, Mr. Krupnick said, “It will proceed, but it will be under a lot of pressure financially,” he said.

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