Triple Five

Supervisor Yvette Aguiar raised concerns last week about when the town would receive the balance of its $40 million for land at the Calverton Enterprise Park, if the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency moves the town's deal with Calverton Aviation and Technology forward.

Riverhead Industrial Development Agency board members on Wednesday questioned representatives of the Triple Five affiliate in contract to buy more than 1,600 acres at Calverton Enterprise Park from Riverhead Town about the company’s finances, bringing what has primarily been a closed-door vetting process out into the public eye.

Calverton Aviation & Technology will attend another public information session with the Riverhead Industrial Development Agency to discuss plans for the EPCAL site, the Riverhead IDA announced in a press release issued last night.

“I personally apologize for the confusion that was created when it [an air cargo hub] was referenced by a professional consultant as a hypothetical concept of full buildout,” Calverton Aviation & Technology CEO Justin Ghermezian told the Riverhead IDA board at the Aug. 8, 2023 public information meeting. Residents stepped to the podium to say they didn't believe the applicant's re-characterization of the plans presented last September.

Officials can require the developer to file covenants ensuring that this property will never be used for air cargo. Let's protect our environment and use our industrial land and public dollars to support employers that will benefit local workers. Long Island can have good jobs and clean air.

EPCAL Watch coordinator Rex Farr, in an open letter to the Riverhead IDA, urges the agency to send the Triple Five plan back to the Town Board for decision, because the application for IDA benefits is premature.

Guest column: Has the threat of an air cargo distribution hub at EPCAL disappeared?  Or has it just been put in a memory hole? Too many questions remain unanswered.

Guest column: Calverton Aviation & Technology CEO Justin Ghermezian says the company "will continue to work with the town to create a plan" for EPCAL consistent with the town's vision for the site and "these development plans will not include a cargo jetport."

A Triple Five-affiliate company is suing a Luminati Aerospace-owned company over the right to a 16-acre parcel of land along the 10,000-foot runway in Calverton where Luminati Aerospace once operated.

Triple Five Chairman Nader Ghermezian and other family members — including a nephew listed as a principal in Calverton Aviation & Technology — will be added as defendants in a civil racketeering lawsuit pending in the Southern District of New York, under a court order signed last week.