Riverhead Town has canceled the runway use agreement it signed with Luminati Aerospace and has authorized a license agreement with tech start-up Launcher Inc. for use of part of the runway taxiway.
The town canceled the November 2015 runway use agreement with Luminati Aerospace, alleging that Luminati ceased business operations at the Calverton Enterprise Park. The runway use agreement, which gave Luminati exclusive use of the eastern (10,000-foot) runway, terminated 30 days after Luminati and 400 David Court LLC— the wholly owned subsidiary of Luminati Aerospace that holds title to the property at 400 David Court— ceased business operations at the site, according to the terms of the agreement.
The town sent Luminati Aerospace a letter notifying the company of the termination, Riverhead Supervisor Laura Jens-Smith said today. The supervisor said Luminati Aerospace responded to the town with an objection to the termination, but the town is moving forward.
“They no longer maintain a business there,” Jens-Smith said. “We have code enforcement inspections that establish that.”
Luminati CEO Daniel Preston, in interviews with other news outlets, has said he has moved Luminati’s business operations to Little Falls, New York, in upstate Herkimer County.
Launcher is developing innovative rocket engines it hopes will someday power small satellites into space. It is headquartered at New Lab in Brooklyn, where it designs and 3-D prints the rocket engines, but it has been testing the engines on property owned by Luminati Aerospace at 400 David Court at EPCAL since 2017.
Jens-Smith said Launcher needed to relocate from Luminati’s property because of an ongoing legal dispute between Luminati and Hexcel Corporation. Hexcel made a $10 million loan to Luminati Aerospace, secured in part by a first mortgage in the 400 David Court property. According to court filings, Hexcel has declared Luminati in default of its promissory note to Hexcel. It obtained a court order granting it the right to seize Luminati’s machinery and equipment. To date, there is no record of any mortgage foreclosure proceeding affecting 400 David Court.
Riverhead Town is in contract to sell 1,644 acres of vacant land at the enterprise park, including the site’s two runways, to Calverton Aviation & Technology, a joint venture of Luminati Aerospace and Triple Five Group. Launcher plans to establish a presence inside the technology park planned by Calverton Aviation & Technology, Launcher founder Max Haot told town officials at a public hearing in March 2018.
Jens-Smith said the town wants to keep Launcher at the Calverton Enterprise Park. “We don’t want to lose him,” she said in an interview today. It’s the kind of thing we want to see here.”
The town’s interest in the tech start-up has shaped its response to the company’s operation at the Luminati site without a site plan approval. Riverhead officials served Launcher with a notice of violation in April 2018, after Launcher made a public presentation about its operation at the Calverton Aviation and Technology qualified and eligible sponsor hearing on March 19, 2018. But the town has allowed the company to continue to test its rocket engines at the site, despite lack of site plan approval.
Last week, the town board agreed to grant Launcher a short-term license agreement to relocate its operation from Luminati-owned property to Riverhead CDA-owned property. The company will site 10 10-foot by 20-foot container units, a diesel generator on wheels, two mobile concrete walls, and a portable bathroom facility, to a location on or near the taxiway of the eastern runway, according to the resolution unanimously approved by the board Oct. 2.
The license is subject to Launcher obtaining all required permits and approval from the town planning and building department and other agencies as required by law. Jens-Smith said today it will be up to the town’s planning and building department to decide what approvals are needed.
Launcher will pay the town a monthly fee of $2,000, according to the resolution.
The agreement itself was not attached to the resolution because its terms had not been finalized, the supervisor’s chief of staff said last week.
Jens-Smith said today the town notified CAT/Triple Five that it was canceling the Luminati runway use agreement.
Triple Five representatives are scheduled to present updated plans to the town board at its Oct. 17 work session.
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