Marsha Silverman recorded live on WGBB Radio

 August 20, 2017 The Glen Cove Industrial Development Agency   will vote Tuesday on whether to give more than $1.2 million in tax breaks to the developer of a downtown apartment and retail building. 

Uniondale-based RXR Realty is asking for the   tax breaks to build Village Square on 2.8 acres in downtown Glen Cove. The   buildings now on the site are mostly vacant. It would include 146 apartments, retail space and a plaza deeded to the city for public events. 

RXR Glen Isle Partners, of which RXR Realty   is majority owner, is building Garvies Point — with 1,110 condos and   apartments, parks, offices and retail — about a half-mile away. That project   received more than $200 million in IDA tax breaks. 

For Village Square, RXR is asking for $1.24   million in mortgage and sales-tax exemptions. The IDA also will vote on   payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, that would start at $183,062 for the   first three years and increase 2 percent annually for 15 years. The value of   that property tax break is undetermined. 

IDA Executive Director Barbara Peebles said   the property, which has languished for years, is “the key to revitalizing our   downtown. . . . If they don’t get the PILOT, it stays blighted and it never gets developed.” 

Frank Haftel, first vice president of RXR,   said the $49 million project wouldn’t attract lenders and investors without   financial assistance.  RXR has yet to come to an agreement to buy a   small parcel of the property, and the tax breaks are contingent on RXR owning   that land, IDA attorney Milan Tyler said. 

Marsha   Silverman, a Democratic City Council candidate and one of 105 plaintiffs in a   lawsuit seeking to halt construction of Garvies Point, said she opposes the   PILOTs. She said they should be used to lure new job-creating businesses to   the city, not “to financially assist a wealthy developer,” which she asserted   could build Village Square without the breaks. 

“When   they don’t pay their fair share of taxes, the rest of us have to make up the   difference, and we subsidize this developer,” Silverman said. 

Peebles said current property taxes on the   site are $154,422, so the PILOTs will reap far more revenue for the city than   if the land were left vacant. 

Silverman   spoke against the PILOTs at an Aug. 9 IDA public hearing held outside the   IDA’s regular meeting schedule, which Silverman said showed a lack of   transparency. 

Glen Cove Mayor and IDA chairman Reginald   Spinello said the date was chosen as part of “an aggressive timeline” for   developing the site. No public-comment period is expected on Tuesday, but the   board will discuss written and verbal comments about the PILOT and take them   into consideration, Spinello said. 

The IDA meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the   second-floor conference room of City Hall, 9 Glen St.