Representatives of Calverton Aviation & Technology will present their current plans for proposed development in the Calverton Enterprise Park at a public forum on Wednesday, May 3 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Hotel Indigo in Riverhead.
The Riverhead Industrial Development Agency announced the forum in a press release Thursday night.
“This informal forum is intended to provide an opportunity for the CAT team to update Riverhead residents on their vision for the proposed project at EPCAL while the agency continues its due diligence on the IDA application made by the Town of Riverhead CDA [Community Development Agency] and CAT,” the Riverhead IDA said in the release.
CAT calls its project the “Calverton Aviation and Technology Innovation Hub.”
According to ambitious plans unveiled publicly for the first time at the Sept. 21 Riverhead IDA meeting, plans to ultimately develop, in phases, more than 8.4 million square feet of logistics and distribution buildings situated along the two runways, which are included in the sale. It also plans to build 400,000 square feet of non-warehouse uses in three smaller buildings. Plans also call for building 8,640 parking spaces in two, two-level structures and another 3,500 spaces of surface parking.
Ultimately, according to documents filed with the Riverhead IDA, CAT will develop 10 million square feet of industrial and commercial buildings at the site.
The first phase of the a project (called phase 1A) carries an estimated $245 million price tag, including land acquisition, engineering, architectural and legal fees, permitting and construction. The first phase consists of three two-story “flex” buildings totaling 400,000 square feet and two single-story, 50-foot-high buildings that will be 300,000 square feet each. All of the phase 1A development will be on the eastern side of the 10,000-foot runway, according to the plans.
CAT’s plans also show phase 1B development consisting of a one-story, 400,000 square foot rail distribution building adjacent to the rail spur that enters the site south of the 7,000-foot runway.
According to the plans, Phase 2 development will consist of three, two-story multi-level, 50-foot-tall distribution buildings of 1.44 million square feet each. Phase 2 construction will also include two, two-level parking structures providing a combined 8,640 parking spaces.
“CAT will improve the two runways, reactivate the GPS approach system and extend and enhance the existing rail system at EPCAL,” the application states. The company estimates the cost of improving the runways will be about $1 million.
CAT’s plans also show relocated taxiways connecting to aprons to accommodate aircraft adjacent to the logistics buildings.
Project engineer Chris Robinson of R&M Engineering explained the company’s vision at the Sept. 21 IDA meeting, after Riverhead IDA Chairperson James Farley asked how the operation, which “could be significant air cargo,” would work at “what is sort of a logistically hampered location in the world.”
Robinson replied that the logistics industry has “varying components of it as you work your way upstream.”
“I think the envisioning here is the the aeronautic aspect,” Robinson said, “bringing packages, which get brought into a logistics building, transferred onto tractor-trailer trucks, which may be brought on to other distribution facilities downstream,” he said, such as Amazon last-mile distribution centers.
“Technically, currently, that end of the logistics business is not handled on Long Island,” Robinson said. “This would be an incredible opportunity to bring that here, where currently it might be done in Nashville or other parts of the country where product’s flown in, divvied up, put on tractor-trailer trucks delivered to other local distribution facilities, the last mile facilities, other ones. So it’s a piece in an overall puzzle,” Robinson said. “And I think this creates an excellent opportunity to provide that on Long Island and help feed Long Island from that end of it, versus all of the trucking that currently comes over the bridges from points west,” he said.
CAT’s attorneys said at the Sept. 21 meeting they hoped the application would be approved by the Riverhead IDA by the end of the year or during the first quarter of 2023.
Previous public discussions of CAT’s potential uses at the site did not involve cargo being flown in for loading into logistics and distribution buildings at the site. See: CAT’s slide presentation at is Feb. 27, 2018 “Qualified and Eligible Sponsor” hearing. The presentation given at the March 19, 2018 hearing continuation is not available for viewing online at the link posted on the Town of Riverhead website. However, the March 19, 2018 hearing minutes are available here. Other documents in the record can be accessed on the EPCAL development page on the town’s website.
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In the days following the Sept. 21 presentation to the Riverhead IDA, which drew a strong reaction from local residents, CAT issued a statement saying it has “absolutely no plans to create an air freight cargo terminal” at the Calverton site.
“CAT’s intent is to utilize the runways for the purpose of encouraging aeronautical startups to design and test their designs on site…to allow corporate jets to bring in executives to connect with their investments, and to provide a means for urgent or time-sensitive supply chain components to be flown in…” the statement said.
CAT’s May 3 forum will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Ballroom at Hotel Indigo at 1830 W. Main St., Riverhead, according to the IDA’s press release. Pre-registration is not required.
Time will be provided for a question-and-answer period, according to the agency’s press release.
The IDA press release said speakers at the forum will be attorneys Christopher Kent and Peter Curry of Farrell Fritz, representing CAT.
Other CAT representatives who will attend the May 3 forum, according to the IDA press release, will be:
- Justin Ghermezian, identified by CAT as the 100% owner of Global Investco Limited, which is the 100% owner of Fundco International Limited, which is the 100% owner of Triple Five Real Estate I LLC, which owns 75% of Calverton Aviation and Technology LLC. (Luminati Aerospace LLC owns the other 25% of Calverton Aviation and Technology. Daniel Preston was the 100% owner of Luminati Aerospace, according to the application. Preston died in January.)
- Meg Blakey, Triple Five executive vice president;
- Alex Badalamenti (architect) with BLD Architecture;
- Chris Robinson, P.E., of R&M Engineering;
- Joe Petrocelli, principal in J. Petrocelli Construction, contractor on the project.
This will not be the IDA’s public hearing on the application, the agency said in the release. The public hearing “will be held at a later date,” the release says.
The Riverhead Community Development Agency has joined CAT’s application for financial assistance from the Riverhead IDA because the Community Development Agency, which took title to the site from the Navy after Grumman vacated the property, still owns nearly all of the vacant land inside the enterprise park.
Community Development Agency in November 2018 entered into a contract with CAT to sell 1,644 acres of the 2,100 acres it owns for $40 million. The town has not been able to complete the sale pursuant to the contract because it has not been able to subdivide its land into separate lots due to regulatory complications involving the State Department of Environmental Conservation.
The financial assistance being sought from the IDA includes property tax, sales tax, and mortgage recording tax exemptions. (See application document, below.)
If the Riverhead IDA approves the joint application for financial assistance, the town will transfer the whole of its 2,100 acres at the enterprise park to the Riverhead IDA and CAT will pay the rest of the contract price to the town. Both CAT and the town will enter into separate lease and project agreements with the IDA. CAT will be required to obtain the land subdivision, and, once it is finalized, the IDA will transfer the 1,644 acres to CAT and transfer the rest of the land back to the town.
Riverhead IDA board members provided an update on the agency’s progress in vetting the application at the board’s March 27 meeting.
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