Top stories of 2018: Town agrees to sell EPCAL land to CAT

The proposed sale of Riverhead Town land at the Enterprise Park at Calverton has been a hot topic since 1998, when the town first sold nearly 500 acres of the industrial core at EPCAL to developer Jan Burman for $17 million. 

Some at the time criticized that deal as being too low from the town’s standpoint. And since that time, no proposed deal at EPCAL has escaped without some type of criticism, and the land remained unsold.

The most recent one — Calverton Aviation and Technology — was no exception.

But in late 2018, the Town Board approved a potential sale of 1,640 acres of town land to CAT, a group led by Triple Five Group, which owns 70 percent of CAT, and Luminati Aerospace, which owns 30 percent and is a non-voting member of the group. 

Triple Five has built some of the largest shopping centers in North America, but says their plans for EPCAL call for industrial and aviation uses. 

The Town Board approved the sale in a 3-2 party line vote in November, and CAT is currently doing its due diligence on the property before officially deciding whether to move forward with the purchase.