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Calverton Aviation and Technology agrees to pursue $40M acquisition of town land

Calverton Aviation and Technology has agreed to move forward with the $40 million purchase of 1,643 acres of land from Riverhead Town, according to Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith Smith.

CAT — a joint venture between Triple Five Group, which owns 75% and Luminati Aerospace, which owns 25% — had until May 20 to complete a  second 90-day due diligence period, at which point it would have to decide whether to move forward.

The first 90-day due diligence period went into effect after the Town Board’s 3-2 vote along political party lines on Nov. 7, 2018 to determine CAT as qualified and eligible. CAT then requested a second 90-day due diligence period, as permitted by the 2017 agreement of sale with the town.

In recent weeks, Luminati has run into a number of legal roadblocks, and has reportedly moved much of its operation upstate, which has led to some residences and officials questioning if this puts CAT in default of the agreement of sale, which was originally made with Luminati.

Amy Herbold, CAT’s director of development, had said in a recent press release: “CAT is actively engaged with environmental, planning and legal consultants to complete the due diligence process by May 20, 2019.  Luminati remains a minority, non-voting member of CAT and is a 25% shareholder in the entity.

“CAT is presently in active discussions with CPC, Launcher Space, Scimax, Unique Electric Solutions and many more companies to locate at the site.  Negotiations with all interested companies will be finalized after CAT closes upon the acquisition of the property.”

CAT has previously said it “intends to develop an aviation and technology “hub” at the EPCAL site, which it said is zoned to accommodate 9.8 million square feet of development.

Additional information is expected soon.

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