EPCAL’s (would-be) ‘greatest hits’

This is the third part in a series examining the history of the place known as EPCAL as the Town of Riverhead considers the sale of its remaining vacant land at the site where Grumman Aerospace built and tested military aircraft for the U.S. Navy from 1956 to 1996.

See part one, “‘What’s past is prologue’: Understanding the Calverton Enterprise Park saga” and part two “Pine Barrens, politics and the plan that launched a thousand schemes.”

Poised to take ownership of a one of the largest tracts of industrial land in the region and aware of the land’s importance to the future of the local — and regional — economy, Riverhead Town officials in 1996 set about to establish a structure for implementing the comprehensive redevelopment plan adopted that July for the Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant in Calverton.

Northrop Grumman had vacated the 2,900-acre Navy-owned site in February. Federal legislation was in place authorizing the transfer of the mostly undeveloped tract to the Town of Riverhead Community Development Agency, but the actual transfer would not take place for two more years.

The conveyance was delayed by fate. The day after Riverhead Town adopted a comprehensive master plan for the redevelopment of the site, on the evening of July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 took off from JFK airport and exploded in mid-air off the coast of East Moriches, killing all 230 people on board. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Transportation Safety Board investigators set up inside the cavernous Plant Six building at the old Grumman site and there worked to reassemble the wreckage of the Boeing 747 airliner.

As the Flight 800 investigation was carried out, the Navy prepared an environmental impact statement, which had to be completed before the Navy could deed the land to the town.

The reuse plan adopted by the town on July 16, 1996, envisioned “a multi-use enterprise park that has at its core a major industrial complex” largely comprising the existing buildings, hangers and runways. The land outside the “industrial core” would be zoned for uses that included a theme park, a sports park and a nature park, according to the reuse plan.

On the same day, the town board authorized the establishment of a local development corporation, an independent nonprofit corporation that would, by contract with the town community development agency, oversee the redevelopment and reuse of the Calverton site in accordance with the adopted plan.

The Riverhead Development Corporation, incorporated a few weeks later, was charged with “attracting new commerce, industry, residential, leisure and tourism development to said site and lessening the burdens of the Town of Riverhead, Suffolk County, in conjunction with such economic redevelopment,” according to the town board resolution authorizing the RDC.

The original plan was for the CDA to actually lease the site to the RDC “for marketing and redevelopment,” according to the resolution establishing the new entity. The idea was to insulate the marketing and redevelopment process from political influences. But that wasn’t how things worked out on either front.

The town board appointed the initial RDC board, comprising mostly local business owners, to be chaired by Jesse R. (Bobby) Goodale III, who had served as chairman of the Calverton planning commission, which oversaw the development of the reuse strategy.

The RDC commissioned an appraisal of the site — a task delayed by the Flight 800 investigation, which prevented access to the property.

The board almost immediately began to review proposals for new uses.

Minutes of the groups’s monthly meetings — which would continue for the next decade — reveal board members with differing points of view about the future of site.

Some, such as farmer John Talmage of Baiting Hollow, sharply disagreed with the preferred development alternative selected by town at the recommendation of the planning commission. Talmage was resolute in his belief that the site should be developed as an airport. He objected to any plan that called for decommissioning either of the runways, opposing proposals by several prospective developers on that ground. He criticized the Villella administration for what he characterized as “a conspiracy to shut the airport down.”

A handful of developers sought to buy the nearly 500-acre “industrial core” of the site — the existing buildings, hangers and infrastructure, including the runways. In 1999, on the recommendation of the RDC, the town struck a deal to sell the 491-acre core — not including the runways — to Lazarus-Burman for $17 million. The price was in line with an appraisal the RDC had done that valued the “core” (without the runways) at $15 million to $17 million.

Lazarus-Burman projected that within five years, 2,200 jobs with an annual payroll of $25.7 million would be created, and that within 20 years, 6,400 people with a total annual payroll of $78.5 million would be at work at the former Northrop-Grumman site. Annual property taxes were projected to reach $1.7 million in five years, and $3.1 million in 20 years.

But the Burman deal, as it was known, became a political football in a local election year, attacked as “the great Grumman giveaway” by a Republican ticket looking to wrest the reins of power back from the Democrats who had elected a board majority in 1997. They succeeded. However, the signed contract left the new administration no alternative but to close the sale with Lazarus-Burman, which wasn’t finalized until late in 2001, largely due to delays in processing the land subdivision needed before the title could be transferred.

There was no shortage of proposals for the remaining undeveloped acreage at the site, though only a relative few would proceed to the investigative stage of determining whether an applicant was a “qualified and eligible sponsor” as required by state law. Even fewer would proceed to contract. And in the 20 years since the Navy transferred title to the town, only one sale outside the “industrial core” would be consummated: the 2003 sale of 42 acres in the newly created planned recreational use district to Island Water Park Corp. for $714,000.

Sale and development of the site has faced a panoply of obstacles — even after the town finally got title to the site on Sept. 10. The zoning adopted by the town as recommended by the reuse plan called for a host of uses, some quite intense such as sports stadiums an racetracks, in spite access roadways unable to handle heavy traffic flows. Overall, the site lacked infrastructure — sewage treatment, interior roadways and drainage facilities — and the town lacked the money to build it. Development without that kind of infrastructure would be virtually impossible. Last but not least were the environmental laws and regulations that protected certain species, habitat, groundwater and lands in the Peconic River watershed.

Despite the obvious obstacles, the town entertained proposals from a parade of suitors. Of all the entities seeking to buy or lease land from the town at EPCAL, only eight made it to a qualified and eligible sponsor hearing (not including companies deemed qualified and eligible for purposes of a runway use agreement.) Five of the entities that proceeded to a Q&E hearing were determined to be qualified and eligible and a sixth — Calverton Aviation and Technology — has an application still pending.  Four of those six companies — not including Calverton Aviation and Technology — entered into contracts with the town. Only two of them closed the deal.  The fate of these proposals will be the subject of future installment in this series.  

EPCAL’s (would-be) ‘greatest hits’

Compiled from minutes of the Riverhead Development Corp., the Riverhead Community Development Agency and files of the Riverhead Town Clerk

1996

Project Calverton 800-acre racetrack proposal

1997

IBEX film studio
Apollo/Landmark: offered $35 million

1998

Mentmore: offered $35 million plus 25 percent of net revenues

Breslin Realty: offered $60 million for 2,900 acres, with half down in cash at closing and the balance paid over 10 years, interest-free on a proposal to build 6 golf courses, 2,500 to 3,000 residential units and high density commercial/industrial uses in the industrial core

Allied International Development: Proposal to buy 2,900 acres for a theme park and sports entertainment center

Arthur and Mark Calace offered $7.18 million for 630 acres to build three golf courses, a golf training center, equestrian center and trails, a hotel-conference center and other resort development.

Hotel Investment Partners: offered $27.5 million for the remaining 2,490 acres to build a hotel, concert venue, sports stadium, two golf courses with high-end housing, senior housing, industrial uses, retail and family recreation facilities

Island Water Park: offered $15,000 an acre for 42 acres.

NHL Skate: sought to buy 300 acres to develop an 8,000-seat hockey rink that would also be used for basketball and concerts, plus a baseball stadium, community skate rink, a driving range and a gym

1999

Trump Organization: $55 million entire site for development including hotel, golf course and 1,500 housing units

2000

American Energy Systems: proposal to build a 250-500 MW natural gas-fired electric generation station

Northeast Motorsports: offered $8.46 million for 400 acres

Wilpon Group: offered $21 million for 1,000 acres to build three championship golf courses, one training course, three dwelling units per golf hole and a hotel-conference center

2001

Calverton Motorsports Park: offered $25,000 per acre for 200 acres to build a half-mile drag strip, a 5/8-mile oval, a go-kart track and a two-mile road racing course

Utopia Studios: offered $25,000 per acre for approximately 1,600 remaining acres ($40 million) for the construction of a family resort with theme parks, faigrounds, stadium to accommodate major sporting and entertainment events

Palm Beach Polo (withdrew)

Jim Petrocelli and David Bottomly: offered $25,000 per acre for 50 to 100 acres along the 7,000-foot runway for general aviation uses

Hirschberg Development: offered $30,000 per acre for 500 acres to build two 18-hole golf courses, a hotel-conference center and 108 homes

2002

Riverhead Zoological Park: offered to lease 100 acres of land for 20 years at $350,000 per year to build a public zoo

Philippe De La Chapelle: offered $25,000 per acre for 1,000 acres to build four private golf courses, a driving range, 216 homes, a hotel-conference center and accessory retail uses

2003

Ed Broidy: proposes to build a baseball stadium on 20 acres

WCI Spectrum Communities: offered $50 million for 1,019 acres to build an 18-hole golf course, homes and a boutique hotel or time share

2004

FRP Corp.: offered $50,000 per acre for 150 acres

Peconic Golf Partners: offered $4 million for 200 acres, to build municipal golf course and a 60-acre lake that would be conveyed to the town. The partners would excavate and sell sand from the site, paying $2 per cubic yard for materials exported.

Ken Wilpon and Philippe De La Chapelle: offered $50 million for 700 acres to build four golf courses, a hotel and conference center, golf villas, restaurant and catering facilities, indoor and outdoor pools, tennis courts and a spa

2005

Calverton Resorts International: offered $61 million for 755 acres to build two championship golf courses, hotel-conference center- spa, 216 single-family homes for seniors, 150 to 200 villas for guest lodging

Ken Wilpon: offered $66 million for 755 acres to build a hotel resort and convention center, two championship golf courses and 108 homes for 55 and older adults.

2006

Rechler: offered $40 million for 650 acres

Tritec Development Group: offered $55 million to build 1 million square feet of office space, 6-9 million square feet of industrial space, 500,000 square feet of retail, an extended-stay hotel, a limited-service hotel and a full-service hotel

Beechwood Organization/CLK Properties: offered $28 million for 550 acres to build 3.77 million square feet of mixed office- light industrial uses

Calverton Commerce Park: Calverton Commerce Park
offered $15 million to build office, light industrial uses and 120-acre golf course

2007

Rechler Equity: offered $35 million plus profit-sharing for 300 acres

Parviz Farahzad: offered $30 million for 300 acres

Hamptons Polo and Country Club: offered for 755 acres to build up to 200 equestrian estate homes and nature trails, a polo-equestrian complex, a hotel spa and club, a 200-room hotelconvention cneter, a health club and spa

Riverhead Industrial Aero Park: offered $11 million for 100 acres on the east side of the 10,000-foot runway to build more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing and industrial space

Riverhead Resorts (Bayrock Group and Baldragon Homes): offered $155 million for 755 acres to build an indoor ski slope, eight hotel-resorts, a water park

2011

Neuss polo resort: offered $50,000 per acre for 755 acres to build polo facilities and housing

2012

YMCA of Long Island: offered to build YMCA facility on 7.3-acre site to be leased from the town at no cost to the YMCA, which would provide $25,000 per year in support for residents who cannot afford membership fees.

2017

Luminati Aerospace: offered $40 million for 1,643 acres to build an aerospace-centered industrial park