With the COVID crisis in the rear-view mirror, Brookhaven is experiencing a construction boom with more than a dozen large-scale projects featuring millions of square feet on tap to create thousands of jobs and enhance the town’s economic future.
Investments of $1.86 billion across 15 commercial, industrial and residential projects represents a huge windfall for taxpayers with enormous proceeds expected in tax revenue, jobs and other economic benefits, according to town officials.
“These projects will ease the tax burden, particularly for the school districts where these industries are located, which is important,” said Supervisor Edward Romaine. “But even more important is creating not only temporary construction jobs, but permanent jobs so our residents can make a decent wage and afford to live here.”
The Supervisor noted that “geography is destiny” with Brookhaven having the space necessary for the large-scale projects. “We're past the pandemic and we're back to the time when people are investing in our town,” Romaine said, noting that a long-time goal has been to create an economy independent of New York City. “We have our own internal economics that run this town and this county we know as Suffolk, so less and less we depend on the city. We’ve built our own economic base.”
Underscoring the development boom is the $491.1 million Sunrise Wind offshore windmill array and its $37.7 million operations and maintenance hub in East Setauket. Officials this week highlighted the 924 MW project at a Smith Point Park press conference pointing to $130 million in impact fees Brookhaven is slated to receive when the project goes on line in 2025. More than 3,000 jobs are expected to be created by wind-driven turbines located 30 miles east of Montauk Point, according to town Industrial Development Agency officials who are coordinating the various projects and providing incentives to the developers.
A hot pocket for the development boom is an industrial corridor in Shirley and Yaphank that directly connects not only to the Long Island Expressway, but also to the rails as highlighted by the $409.7 million Brookhaven Logistics Center, a rail-contiguous warehouse and distribution center that is projected to create more than 2,900 jobs.
Nearby is the 148,250-square-foot Bactolac building, a $17.9 million warehouse for materials used in manufacturing dietary supplements. Its neighbor is the MDS Building Ventures warehouse and distribution center for custom packaging supplies, a 140,000-square-foot facility costing $13.7 million. Just down the road in Yaphank are two buildings totaling more than 400,000-square-feet by AVR SP Brookhaven JV, a $72.4 million investment.
Housing Brookhaven residents will be the transit-oriented Port Jefferson Crossing project sponsored by Conifer and the Community Development Corporation of Long Island. The $24.3 million construction will feature 45 affordable workforce housing units and have quick access to the Long Island Rail Road. Farmingville will be the home of The Arboretum, a $109 million development comprised of 292 rental units, public use building and park on 62 acres.
There’s also Middle Country Meadows, a $36.9 million senior housing community of 124 rental units in Selden and phase 2A of the Ronkonkoma Hub with approximately 388 residential units, including parking, retail and commercial space, total investment: $252.7 million.
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The Brookhaven projects include:
Sunrise Wind/ 22 Research Way
Renovation and equipping of a 55,525 sq. ft. facility to serve as the operations and maintenance hub for the Sunrise Wind Farm and cable project.
Investment - $37,799,560
Job creation – 112
Location – East Setauket
Sunrise Wind LLC
18 miles of underground cable traveling from Smith Point to a Holbrook substation in support of the Sunrise Wind power generation project.
Investment - $491,100,000
Job creation – 2,986
Location – Shirley to Holbrook
Brookhaven Logistics Center
2.5 million sq. ft. of speculative, rail-contiguous warehouse and distribution facilities.
Investment - $409,739,630
Job creation – 2900
Location – Yaphank
Port Jefferson Crossing
CDCLI and Conifer supported 70,000 sq. ft. 100% affordable/workforce 45-unit residential housing transit-oriented development.
Investment - $24,300,000
Job creation – 102
Location – Port Jefferson
WF Industrial XIII
129,237 sq. ft. warehouse/distribution facility on 9.89 acres of vacant land.
Investment - $33,796,991
Job creation – 116
Location – Medford
Brookhaven Ventures/ BRP/ The Arboretum
292 rental units, including 10% affordable, on 62 acres. Includes public park and building for public use.
Investment – $109,000,000
Job creation – 682
Location – Farmingville
Middle Country Meadows
Senior rental housing development will include 124 rental units (36 will be affordable).
Investment -$36,915,000
Job creation – 157
Location – Selden
Hawkins Ave/ Ronkonkoma Hub Phase 2A
Mixed-use multifamily building consisting of 388 residential units, including parking, retail and commercial space.
Investment - $252,785,617
Job creation – 4,700
Location – Ronkonkoma
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148,250 sq. ft. building for warehousing of materials to be used in manufacturing dietary supplements.
Investment - $17,920,000
Job creation – 132
Location – Shirley
MDS Building Ventures
140,000 sq. ft. warehouse and distribution center for wholesale distributor of custom packaging supplies.
Investment - $13,791,471
Job creation – 91
Location – Shirley
AVR SP Brookhaven JV
Two buildings, totaling 401,080 sq. ft. for warehouse and distribution.
Investment - $72,448,353
Job creation – 343
Location – Shirley
South Setauket ILU/ Jefferson’s Ferry
Expansion of existing assisted living facility to include about 170,000 sq. ft. of new construction and 49,000 sq. ft. of renovated space.
Investment - $46,670,000
Job creation – 387
Location - Port Jefferson
Peconic River Energy Storage
150 MW battery energy storage system on 4.4 acres.
Investment - $159,415,586
Job creation – 133
Location – Manorville
10 Donald’s Way
140,875 sq. ft. warehouse distribution facility on 11.01 acres of vacant land.
Investment - $36,855,925
Job creation – 173
Location - Medford
American Organic Energy (AOE)
74,500 sq. ft. building with anaerobic digesters to process food waste, which will be converted to clear energy, clear water and soil products.
Investment - $120,000,000
Job creation – 312
Location- Yaphank
“Our work in Brookhaven has made it the heart of economic activity in Suffolk County, but also a place with beautiful parks and open spaces for our residents to