EPCAL hearing moved to March 19 due to impending snow

Thanks to heavy snow in the forecast Tuesday, Calverton Aviation & Technology’s qualified and eligible sponsor hearing scheduled for Tuesday at the Pulaski Street School has now been rescheduled to March 19, starting at 6 p.m. 

It is a continuation of a Feb. 27 Q&E hearing with CAT which packed Riverhead Town Hall.

The hearing before the Riverhead Town Board attempts to determine if CAT — which is a joint venture between Triple Five Real Estate I, LLC and Luminati Aerospace LLC — has the finances and ability to build out its intended development plan for Enterprise Park at Calverton, where CAT wants to buy more than 1,400 acres from Riverhead Town land for $40 million.

Triple Five Group is a major developer best known for huge shopping malls like the Mall of America in Minnesota and the West Edmonton Mall in Canada, although the company says it also owns industrial and aviation companies, which is what they plan to bring to EPCAL.

The company is privately owned, and said at the first hearing on Feb. 27 that they would disclose financial information confidently to the Town Board and not publicly.

Luminati is headed by Daniel Preston, who has been a source of controversy based on his past, which includes a number of lawsuits filed against him and a number of business partners leaving him.

Mr. Preston was said to have been present at the beginning of the Feb. 27 hearing, but did not speak at that hearing.

Nader Ghermezian, the chair of Triple Five Group, said last Wednesday that he told Mr. Preston not to speak. He said Triple Five owns 75 percent of the partnership and Luminati 25 percent. Luminati, Ms. Ghermezian said, has no vote and no say as what decisions will be made at CAT.

Photo caption: A packed Riverhead Town Hall at the Feb. 27 Q&E hearing. (Credit: Kelly Zegers)