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What you need to know about the Gyrodyne project (3/04/20)
By Nicholas Spangler
What is Gyrodyne?
Now a real estate company with three sites in New York and one in Florida, the company once made helicopters and drones for military use and had more than 700 employees worldwide. Its prize holding is Flowerfields, a 75-acre site at Route 25A and Mills Pond Road, once home to a large flower nursery and later to Gyrodyne manufacturing. The parcel is mostly in the Smithtown hamlet of St. James, with a small piece in Brookhaven Town. Smithtown officials have said it is one of the biggest largely unbuilt parcels in western Suffolk County. The site was even bigger before 2005, when the state took 245.5 acres for a Stony Brook University research and development park. In 2012, after a string of court defeats, state officials agreed to pay $167.5 million for that land, on top of an initial $26.3 million payment.
What does the company want to do?
In 2017, Gyrodyne chief executive Gary Fitlin said the company would sell its assets and unwind operations. The company submitted to Smithtown officials a subdivision application for uses such as a hotel, assisted living and medical offices. In a 2019 SEC filing, Gyrodyne revealed plans to sell about nine acres of the land to a company connected with Benchmark Senior Living, a developer and operator of assisted living whose holdings include Whisper Wood in Smithtown. The land could also be attractive to Stony Brook University, which rents space at the site proposed for redevelopment. Smithtown environmental officials are reviewing the company's application.
Who wants development, and why?
Smithtown Supervisor Edward Wehrheim generally favors commercial development, which he says broadens the tax base and shields residents from property tax increases. Development along the lines Gyrodyne envisions could generate millions of dollars in taxes each year for local schools, the St. James Fire District and the town itself. Town officials also hope they can hook up the St. James business district to a proposed Gyrodyne sewage treatment plant, a move that would greatly increase the value of properties that now depend on individual septic systems. Some civic and business leaders are solidly in that camp.
Who opposes development, and why?
Judging by turnout at public meetings over the past several years, most of the opposition appears to come from Brookhaven Town, where residents say they would bear costs, such as increased traffic on Stony Brook Road with none of the tax benefits. Brookhaven Supervisor Edward Romaine has angrily criticized an approval process he says fails to take into account his constituents’ needs, though county and state representatives have also made proposals to slow or alter the course of development. Officials of nearby Head of the Harbor have been milder in their criticisms, but have also expressed worry. Development opponents have also warned about ecological dangers of agricultural or manufacturing chemicals that may have been used at the Gyrodyne site in the past, and of the impacts the proposed sewage treatment plant could have on Stony Brook Harbor.
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/gyrodyne-smithtown-1.42400567
Suffolk lawmaker accused of trying to slow Smithtown development (2/11/20)
By Nicholas Spangler
Suffolk County legislators on Tuesday postponed a decision on a proposal to study development of the Route 25A corridor near Stony Brook and Smithtown.
Sharp debate over the bill from Legis. Kara Hahn (D-Setauket) focused on one of the most significant proposals for that area: Former defense contractor Gyrodyne has proposed subdividing its 75-acre parcel in Smithtown near the Brookhaven border for uses such as a hotel, assisted living and offices.
Hahn said her hope was to promote better planning "so when there are big projects that border town borders, there's more input from adjacent communities."
But company officers and a collection of Smithtown civic and business leaders at Tuesday's hearing described it as an attempt to slow or stop development. The bill would mandate study of vacant and proposed parcels, zoning, possible build-out and current development proposals along the state road, giving county planners six months to compile their analysis and make recommendations to legislators and the county executive.
County planners said earlier this month that the bill would not affect the environmental review for Gyrodyne’s proposal that is already underway in Smithtown, but company officials were worried enough to send at least three representatives, including chief executive Gary Fitlin, to Tuesday’s hearing.
“This is only an attempt to confuse issues and wrest control from the Town of Smithtown,” said J. Timothy Shea, a Hauppauge lawyer representing the company. Shea blamed a “well-educated, well-organized” Stony Brook community he’d wrangled with over previous development applications.
That community includes Stony Brook University professors who have spoken out against Gyrodyne’s proposal in the past and an array of civic and elected officials who chiefly represent Brookhaven residents.
Justin Bryant, a former New York State Assembly aide, said at the hearing that Gyrodyne planning needed to look more closely at issues surrounding traffic and chemicals that may be left over at the site from prior agricultural and manufacturing uses. Herb Mones, former president of the Three Village Civic Association in Brookhaven, said that company representatives’ promises of community-friendly development rang hollow. “Gyrodyne will not be here tomorrow,” he said. “They will sell. They will leave. Our residents will bear the brunt.”
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/gyrodyne-smithtown-stony-brook-study-1.41722545
Flowerfield Industrial Park is comprised of 68 acres and approximately 127,000 rentable square feet.
The developed portion of the industrial park is multi-tenanted and situated on ten acres in St. James, New York.
Approximately 62 of the 68 acres are included in the subdivision application filed with the Town of Smithtown.
If the $1.87 million per acre is anywhere close to being representative, Flowerfield could be worth in excess of $100 million.
Gyrodyne Agrees to Sell 9-Acre Parcel for $16.8 Million (8/29/19)
Gyrodyne, LLC, a New York limited liability company (the “Company”), has announced the execution by its subsidiary GSD Flowerfield LLC, a New York limited liability company (“GSD”), of Purchase and Sale Agreement (the “Agreement”) effective as of August 27, 2019 (the “Effective Date”) for the sale of an approximately 9.0 acre parcel of vacant land (the “Property”), which Property forms a portion of the Company’s Gyrodyne/Flowerfield complex in Smithtown, New York for a purchase price of $16,800,000 to BSL St. James LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“BSL”).
The Agreement requires: (i) an investigation period that will expire after a set period, during which time BSL will have the right to terminate the Agreement by written notice to GSD if BSL will not be fully satisfied, in BSL’s sole discretion, as to the status of title, suitability of the Premises and all factors concerning same, prior to the expiration of the investigation period, in which case BSL will have the right to receive a refund of its earnest money deposit; (ii) if BSL does not terminate the Agreement on or prior to the end of the investigation period, BSL will be obligated to deliver an additional earnest money deposit to the escrow agent, which together with the initial earnest money deposit will be applied toward the purchase price at closing; (iii) unless BSL terminates the Agreement on or prior to the end of the investigation period, the closing will occur on the 30th day following the earlier of (y) the Town of Smithtown’s granting of the Site Plan Approval (as defined in the Agreement and as described below); or (z) BSL’s waiver of the Site Plan Approval.
The Agreement is also contingent on the receipt of Subdivision Approval (as defined in the Agreement and as described below) and Site Plan Approval. The Subdivision Approval condition requires that GSD obtain a subdivision of the Gyrodyne/Flowerfield complex into separate parcels to create the Property (as generally depicted in the Agreement) within a specified time following the last day of the investigation period. If such Subdivision Approval is not obtained within such specified time following the last day of the investigation period, each of GSD and BSL have the right to terminate the Agreement. The contract provides a limited right of BSL to terminate the Agreement in the event the subdivision approval contains requirements specified in the Agreement. In the event the Subdivision Approval has not been denied by the Town of Smithtown at or prior to the last day of the specified period, GSD shall have the right to extend its time to obtain the Subdivision Approval for a specified period of time. If such Subdivision Approval is not obtained within such additional time, each of GSD and BSL have the right to terminate the Agreement.
The Site Plan Approval is specifically delineated in the Agreement. If BSL fails to obtain the Site Plan Approval prior to the later of subclauses (i) or (ii) above, BSL may cancel the Agreement, waive the Site Plan Approval contingency, or extend the site plan period for a specified period upon the payment of an extension fee. If, after such extension, BSL fails to obtain the Site Plan Approval, BSL may cancel the Agreement, waive the Site Plan Approval contingency, or extend the site plan period for an additional specified period with a second non-refundable extension fee.
The Agreement also contains additional customary covenants, conditions, representations and warranties.
The foregoing description of the Agreement is only a summary of its material terms, does not purport to be a complete description of the rights and obligations of the parties thereunder and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Agreement, which is attached hereto as Exhibit 10.1.
The Company estimates that the closing of the sale of the Property will have the effect of raising the value of the net assets in liquidation (“Net Asset Value” or “NAV”) per share by $4.10. The pursuit of entitlements related to the Property and adjacent parcels will also have the effect of extending the estimated liquidation timeline by 18 months. While the Company is contemplating measures to contain costs and reduce the level of operating expenses in the later stages of its dissolution, we are increasing the expense reserve (the estimated costs in excess of receipts) per share by $1.72 to reflect the longer time period. The net effect of these changes is to increase the NAV to $20.20 per common share, an increase of $2.38 from the June 30, 2019 NAV of $17.82 per common share.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1589061/000143774919017657/gyrllc20190829_8k.htm
Gary Fitlin, President and CEO, presented remarks at the Company’s 2019 Annual Shareholders Meeting (6/24/19)
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1589061/000143774919012488/ex_148321.htm
Competing option emerges for proposed sewage treatment plant in Smithtown (5/13/19)
Town officials worried about lack of a wastewater infrastructure said they still prefer the Gyrodyne property over an assemblyman's alternative site in Kings Park.
By Nicholas Spangler
Assemb. Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) has proposed an ambitious alternative to a possible sewage treatment plant in northeastern Smithtown, as town officials’ concerns over stalled sewering plans took on new urgency.
Officials for Smithtown and Gyrodyne, the former defense contractor that proposes to develop its 62-acre property near Route 25A, have said a sewage treatment plant planned there could serve downtown St. James and a hotel and assisted living facility planned there.
“They’re talking about putting high-nitrate effluent into groundwater” that runs into environmentally sensitive Stony Brook Harbor, Englebright said in an interview last week. An alternative, he said, would be to transfer development rights from Gyrodyne to the former Kings Park Psychiatric Center while continuing to search for a site for a plant to treat St. James and downtown Smithtown.
Smithtown Supervisor Edward Wehrheim said last week that the town has evaluated and rejected several alternate sites for a St. James-Smithtown treatment plant.
Town spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo said, "We're sympathetic to his environmental concerns, but it should be noted that the private project as well as the whole Gyrodyne campus is zoned industrial" and is located outside of the deepwater recharge zone for the harbor.
Officials for Gyrodyne and New York State Parks did not comment.
Wehrheim and other Smithtown officials appear increasingly concerned over a planned Kings Park sewer system. That project has been stalled for months, awaiting New York State Assembly approval to convey a parcel of land for a critical pump station from the town to Suffolk County, a process known as alienation. The county would build and maintain the system.
“We are in crisis,” the council wrote in a letter prepared to be sent this week to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, asking to put the transfer to a floor vote. “Our small mom-and-pop business districts require wastewater management infrastructure to survive.”
Adding to the urgency, town and civic officials said, is a May 2 letter that the Environmental Protection Agency sent to a Kings Park commercial property owner threatening fines of up to $286,586 for operating a banned large-capacity cesspool. It is not clear how many property owners might be operating similar cesspools.
Smithtown officials have in recent weeks approved appraisal of a small parcel in Kings Park where they could locate the pump station should the alienation not go to a vote.
Deputy Supervisor Thomas McCarthy said the possible purchase “allows us not to be held hostage by Assemblyman Englebright.”
Englebright said he had not stalled the transfer of land.
“They give me powers that I don’t have,” he said.
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/gyrodyne-sewage-treatment-plant-alienation-1.31019948
Don't let legislative moves block Kings Park growth (5/07/19)
By The Editorial Board
Kings Park has waited for sewers for years. Civic groups and local businesses want them to revitalize the downtown. The Town of Smithtown is on board, as is Suffolk County.
The planning is done. And the project is fully funded, thanks to $20 million allocated by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in 2017. All that’s required is passage of a bill in Albany to transfer a small piece of town-owned land to the county for a required pump station.
Unfortunately, the measure is being held up by Assemb. Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), who is trying to get town officials to develop a comprehensive plan for sewers that includes needed systems for the downtown areas of Smithtown and St. James. Englebright, chairman of the Assembly’s environmental conservation committee, also is concerned about the traffic and environmental impacts of an unrelated, controversial development proposed for the Gyrodyne property in St. James. That proposal includes a sewage treatment plant that could serve St. James, but unfortunately the effluent to be pumped into the ground would travel north and end up in comparatively pristine Stony Brook Harbor.
The Albany slowdown has Smithtown officials considering buying a two-acre parcel in the same area of Kings Park, but farther off Main Street, for the pump station. That would require new plans, slow down the project and make it more expensive.
We understand Englebright’s concerns, but he shouldn’t use a worthy project so close to final approval as leverage to achieve something else.
The bill to help Kings Park got lost in the Big Ugly at the end of last year’s legislative session. That can’t happen again.
The ball is in Englebright’s court. Fighting for comprehensive planning is laudable. But getting this bill passed is essential. — The editorial board
https://www.newsday.com/opinion/editorial/kings-park-sewers-development-steve-englebright-1.30789682
St. James downtown renovation project could begin next summer (1/01/19)
Work along the Lake Avenue business corridor will include sewer line construction and replacement of a water main.
By Nicholas Spangler
An ambitious project to remake St. James’ downtown could start as early as next summer, Smithtown officials said.
The approximately $8.5 million project will be among the most significant infrastructure projects in the town in decades and will center on the Lake Avenue business corridor, closing portions of the road for four to six months. Work will include installation of a dry sewer line, replacement of an aging water main and streetscape improvements. Town officials have also spoken with Verizon and PSEG about coordinating utilities work in the area.
“There is going to be a cost to businesses, in terms of foot traffic,” Town Supervisor Edward Wehrheim said. “But we feel very confident that this will benefit those businesses” in the long-term.
The town council in December voted to hire Bohemia-based P.W. Grosser Consulting to help select a firm to oversee sewer design. Town officials and local business people have said that sewers are needed for an area that now relies on septic systems, allowing for water-intense uses such as large restaurants.
Councilmen Thomas Lohman and Thomas McCarthy are meeting weekly with town staffers on a plan to divide the mile-long project into block-long segments to minimize Lake Avenue closures, starting at North Country Road and working south to Patricks Way.
Traffic will be detoured to side streets during construction, which will take place during the day. Lohmann said nighttime work would cost as much as 30 percent more and would be too loud for nearby households.
Town officials have said they hope that the line will eventually link to a sewage treatment plant planned if development is approved at the Gyrodyne property near the Brookhaven Town border. Company officials have said they are open to that idea, but have not committed to it.
Mario Mattera, a board member of the Community Association of Greater St. James who also sits on the Suffolk County Water Authority board, said he and fellow residents were eager for work to start.
“We commend Wehrheim and the council,” he said. “Right now the only people making money on Lake Avenue are two massage parlors and a vape shop.”
That may be an overstatement, but Wehrheim said in a December interview that vacancy on the avenue has reached as high as 33 percent in recent years.
Even as the St. James project moves forward, planned Kings Park sewers, which town officials have said are similarly important for that hamlet to thrive, appear to be still stalled in the New York State Legislature. Funding of $20 million is in place but the town needs the legislature’s permission to transfer a piece of land to Suffolk County for use as a pump station.
Wehrheim planned to draw attention to the town’s predicament at Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s inauguration, and he and some heads of town departments may make a lobbying trip to visit key state officials in Albany in early 2019, town spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo said. “We want to show them where we are with projects and why we can’t move forward with them because of red tape.”
Approximate costs, expected to be funded by bonding or state and Suffolk County grants :
$3.9 million for sewer line
$2.4 million for water main
$2.2 million for road work
$175,000 planning, outreach and other
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/st-james-downtown-1.25067352
Stony Brook research park aims to fuel 'high-tech highway' (9/09/18)
The park, to include as many as 11 buildings, is designed to spark the region's economy and fortify the eastern end of a 65-mile tech corridor that runs from New York City to Brookhaven National Laboratory.The park, to include as many as 11 buildings, is designed to spark the region's economy and fortify the eastern end of a 65-mile tech corridor that runs from New York City to Brookhaven National Laboratory.
By Ken Schachter
Long Island academic, business and political leaders plan to fill Stony Brook University’s fledgling Research and Development Park with as many as 11 buildings in a bid to spark the region’s economy and fortify the eastern end of a 65-mile “high-tech highway.”
“We envision a corridor that extends from New York City to Brookhaven National Laboratory,” said Stony Brook University president Samuel L. Stanley Jr., who also chairs the body that oversees the national laboratory.
Kevin Law, president and chief executive of the Long Island Association, the region’s largest business group, said the park is a key element in a strategy to use science and technology research centers to stimulate an economy slowed by its high cost structure.
The region’s pace of economic growth has averaged 1.2 percent per year since 2000, lagging the 1.6 percent national average, according to the Long Island Index 2018 report.
“Future economic growth on Long Island is largely going to emanate out of our research institutes,” said Law, who also co-chairs the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council and serves as chairman of the Stony Brook Council, a university advisory group.
Populating the decade-old research park with new facilities comes with a price tag.
More than $250 million already has gone toward acquiring the research park’s land and building the first two centers, the 100,000-square-foot Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT), which opened in 2008, and the 49,000-square-foot Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center, which opened two years later.
Most of that money went to St. James-based Gyrodyne Corp., which fought the state’s eminent domain offer of $26.3 million for the 245.5-acre site in the state Court of Claims, ultimately winning $167.5 million, including interest.
Two other facilities, the $60 million Innovation and Discovery Center and the $75 million Institute for Discovery and Innovation in Medicine & Engineering, or I-DIME, are expected to open in July 2019 and December 2021, respectively.
IDC is designed to house companies ready to graduate from startup incubators but not ready to rent commercial space, while I-DIME will house companies that conduct research on biomedical devices like brain chips and apply computer analytics, or “big data,” to develop pharmaceuticals.
Stanley said IDC and I-DIME will bring the research park closer to “critical mass,” so it becomes a magnet for researchers, startups and corporate tenants, and becomes more financially self-sufficient.
Nearly all the funding so far has come from Albany, with State Sen. Kenneth P. LaValle (R-Port Jefferson), chair of the Higher Education Committee, championing funding for additional research centers.
“I call this a high-tech highway from Brookhaven National Laboratory forward,” he said.
Included in the corridor envisioned by LaValle and others are Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Broad Hollow Bioscience Park at Farmingdale State University, New York Institute of Technology and Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.
The research park also is courting established businesses.
Two former Long Island corporate stalwarts, enterprise software maker CA Technologies and the former Symbol Technologies bar code business acquired by Motorola in 2007, have left research facilities at CEWIT amid shifts in focus and ownership. Symbol’s business, formerly based in Holtsville, was absorbed in a 2014 acquisition by Lincolnshire, Illinois-based Zebra Technologies, while CA moved much of its development work out of its former Islandia headquarters even before its $18.9 billion acquisition announced in July by Broadcom, based in San Jose, California.
Negotiations are under way, however, that could land an unnamed major corporate tenant at CEWIT within months, a Stony Brook executive said.
Officials acknowledge that government support will be crucial in raising the hundreds of millions of dollars required to build as many as seven more centers, but they expressed hope that private money will be added to the mix.
“In the future, I want to look at public-private partnerships to build these,” Stanley said. “They’re a tool to create an ecosystem and environment where companies are going to want to come because of the human capital we can provide.”
“Gov. Andrew Cuomo has bought into this concept” in the hope of generating future economic growth, Law said. “The governor often refers to the research corridor as being similar to the Research Triangle [Park] in North Carolina.”
That facility, sitting between Duke University, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University, was one of several facilities visited by Stony Brook strategists working on developing their own research park.
The Triangle, as it is known, was founded in 1959, according to its website, when North Carolina’s annual personal income ranked 49th among all the states. The Triangle is credited with helping the state move from an economy based on tobacco, textiles and furniture. Its personal income rank sat at 18th as of the first quarter of 2018, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The early years of the Triangle “were relatively slow,” according to a retrospective story on its website, but growth exploded in 1965 when IBM announced it was building a research facility.
LaValle said the Stony Brook park also will gain momentum.
“We’re beginning to move,” he said. “That site will begin to bear fruit.”
Stony Brook University Research and Development Park
Opened: 2008
Size: 245.5 acres
Investment to date: More than $250 million
Buildings: 2 open, 2 in the works
Number of companies: 16
https://www.newsday.com/business/technology/stony-brook-research-and-development-park-1.20868086
GAMCO Investors, Inc. beneficially owns 138,892 shares (7/06/18)
Controls 9.37 percent.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/807249/000080724918000131/gyro_02.htm
CEO Remarks (6/29/18)
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1589061/000143774918012677/ex_117187.htm
Investor Presentation (6/29/18)
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1589061/000143774918012677/ex_117190.htm
Director Philip Palmedo buys 1,220 shares on 6/06/18 (6/06/18)
Price paid range was $20.30.
This was direct purchase.
Controls 15,314 direct shares and 1,591 indirect shares.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1244374/000143774918011896/xslF345X03/rdgdoc.xml
Director Nader Salour buys 1,000 shares between 6/18/18 and 6/20/18 (6/20/18)
Prices paid range from $19.875 to $19.90.
Controls 3,866 shares.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1380362/000121465918004538/xslF345X03/marketforms-42298.xml
Beneficial Owners of 5% (5/18/18)
Poplar Point Capital Management, LLC
840 Hinckley Road,
Suite 250
Burlingame, CA 94010
179,904 shares
12.1%
Mario Gabelli /Gamco Asset Management Inc./Gabelli Funds/FSI, Teton Advisors
One Corporate Center
Rye, New York 10580
122,477 shares
8.3%
Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co., LLC
40 Rowes Wharf
Boston, MA 02110
119,888 shares
8.1%
Neil Subin
Milfam LLC
3300 South Dixie Highway
Suite 1-365
West Palm Beach, Florida 33405
117,151 shares
7.9%
Towerview LLC.
460 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022
101,500 shares
6.8%
MFP Investors LLC
909 Third Avenue
New York, New York 10022
80,100 shares
5.4%
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1589061/000143774918010701/gyrllc20180518_def14a.htm
Gyrodyne to spend $1.1M to expand SBU space, filing shows (5/16/18)
The former defense contractor envisions development at its St. James property that would support nearby Stony Brook University.
By Nicholas Spangler
Gyrodyne will spend $1.1 million to expand space leased by Stony Brook University Hospital at its St. James property, according to recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
A lease agreement signed last year calls for the hospital to double the space it rents at the site, to more than 26,000 feet.
Former defense contractor Gyrodyne plans to wind down operations after selling most of nine lots of the 75-acre Flowerfield property near Route 25A and Mills Pond Road. The company applied to the Town of Smithtown last month for subdivision approval, but a town-ordered environmental impact study must come first and could take months or years to complete.
Gyrodyne envisions projects at the site at the Smithtown-Brookhaven town border that would be “supportive and beneficial” to the nearby university, including a 150-bed hotel with conference facilities, medical offices and assisted living facilities, according to a quarterly SEC filing released last week. The company is also seeking to reopen a closed Long Island Rail Road crossing on the east side of the property to foster “synergies” with the university, which owns properties east of the railroad tracks.
Opening that crossing to automobile traffic could mitigate the development’s impact to area roads, according to the company.
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Edward P. Romaine, however, said in a statement last month that the opening could put more traffic onto already overburdened Stony Brook Road via Development Drive. The town “is prepared to take whatever step is necessary to prevent this from happening,” Romaine said.
Smithtown officials have said little publicly about the Gyrodyne proposals, but Romaine and other Brookhaven leaders remain skeptical.
“The proposed development has the potential for significant impacts on the environment, traffic, water quality” and air quality in St. James, Head of the Harbor and the Town of Brookhaven, Romaine said in a statement last month.
Gyrodyne’s SEC filing said development would create “a beautiful, environmentally sound and amenity enriched community that wouldn’t overly burden existing infrastructure and the local community with the additional costs of public education” while adding “significant” tax base to Smithtown and Smithtown Central School District. It said nothing about potential benefits to Brookhaven.
Gyrodyne President Gary Fitlin did not respond to a request for comment.
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/gyrodyne-stony-brook-university-1.18543404
Smithtown discusses deal for a shared sewer plant at Gyrodyne (3/22/18)
Officials say the move would help grow downtown St. James and serve development proposed at the 62-acre Gyrodyne property.
By Nicholas Spangler
Smithtown officials will explore a deal for sewers in downtown St. James with a company proposing a major subdivision in the town.
Under the deal, Smithtown would use a planned sewage treatment plant intended to serve future development of the 62-acre Gyrodyne property, Supervisor Edward Wehrheim said at a St. James Chamber of Commerce meeting Tuesday. The Gyrodyne site is a mile northeast of the northern end of Lake Avenue, St. James’ main thoroughfare, and borders the Town of Brookhaven. It is one of the largest undeveloped sites in western Suffolk County.
“We are supportive of Supervisor Wehrheim’s approach and we will devote time and effort to study his suggestion,” Gyrodyne CEO Gary Fitlin said in an interview. Gyrodyne will study the engineering needed for plant expansion, Fitlin said, adding that there were a number of possible ownership and operating models for a shared plant.
Should a deal prove unfeasible, the town will consider a plant in Smithtown to serve both hamlets, Wehrheim said in an interview.
Gyrodyne, a former defense contractor now operating as a real estate investment trust, submitted documents to the town with its subdivision application envisioning a $150 million development with a hotel, assisted living units and medical offices, all served by a sewage treatment plant on the site’s northeast. Some residents and elected officials in neighboring Brookhaven Town and Head of the Harbor Village oppose those uses, which they say would clog area roads.
Top town planner David Flynn said in an interview that a sewer system might cost $40 million, not including land, enough that a deal between the town and company might not make financial sense. For Gyrodyne to build a plant big enough to serve St. James “would mean they’re giving up some of their land that would be profitable to them.”
Advocates say sewers would mean cleaner water and new water-intense uses like apartments and restaurants. Those uses are difficult or impossible now in St. James because of the area’s reliance on lower-volume cesspools and septic systems.
William J. Garthe, a chamber board member who runs a real estate company and owns property on Lake Avenue, said a deal with Gyrodyne could be beneficial. “They have the space and they’re community minded.”
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/st-james-sewers-gyrodyne-1.17613400
Legislative committee approves appraisal for Gyrodyne property (11/13/17)
Officials, fearing impact of company’s plans for hotel, assisted-living facility on property near the Smithtown-Brookhaven border, move to purchase and preserve 41 acres
By Nicholas Spangler
The Suffolk County Legislature’s Environment, Planning and Agriculture Committee on Monday approved appraisal of the 62-acre Gyrodyne property near the Smithtown-Brookhaven border, a step toward possible county purchase and preservation of the land.
The bill authorizing appraisal, sponsored by committee chairwoman Legis. Kara Hahn (D-Setauket), is the first step in the county’s land acquisition process. It moved out of committee with a 4-0 vote, with one member absent, and will go before the full legislature Nov. 21.
Hahn has proposed buying about 41 acres of fields, woods and a pond with county open-space funds.
“I support this,” said Legis. DuWayne Gregory (D-Amityville). “I can’t believe some of the potential plans for this site. I can’t see how the area can handle that much traffic.”
Gyrodyne, a former helicopter manufacturer that now operates as a real estate company, submitted plans to Smithtown over the summer that envisioned a hotel, offices and assisted living at its Smithtown-Brookhaven property, a rough triangle formed by Route 25A, Mills Pond Road and the Long Island Rail Road.
Gyrodyne president Gary Fitlin could not be reached Monday. In a statement last week, COO Peter Pitsiokos said that under the company’s plan, 30 acres of the site would remain open space. He did not address the proposed legislation.
The property is one of the largest undeveloped tracts left in western Suffolk County.
Company representatives are scheduled to appear before the Smithtown Planning Commission on Wednesday for a subdivision application. Subdivision of the property could increase its value for Gyrodyne, which announced plans in late June to wind down operations and sell its assets by the end of 2018.
Hahn and other officials representing the area have warned that development could increase congestion on already crowded roads to dangerous levels, threaten ground water and add to demand for services like fire protection.
“We are struggling,” Hahn said in an interview last week. “There are safety problems that would be exacerbated by this kind of project.”
Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine said in a statement Monday that “The Town of Brookhaven is adamantly opposed to any development plan that would create more traffic for Stony Brook Road, which is only one of two ways for accessing the State University at Stony Brook.”
A Suffolk County budget official did not respond Monday to questions about money available in the open space fund, which is funded by a quarter-cent sales tax.
With Carl MacGowan
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/gyrodyne-property-preservation-1.14963874
Pols: Suffolk County should buy, preserve part of Gyrodyne site (11/10/17)
Ex-defense contractor submitted plans envisioning assisted-living facility and office buildings on site. Two legislators want part of property preserved as open space.
By Nicholas Spangler
A Suffolk County legislator on Friday announced a proposal for the county to buy and preserve a portion of the 62-acre Gyrodyne property in Smithtown and Brookhaven.
Suffolk Legis. Kara Hahn (D-Setauket), flanked by elected officials and Stony Brook-area civic leaders on the steps of Smithtown Town Hall, warned that pending plans for development of the property — now mainly fields and woods — would lead to heavy traffic and contamination of North Shore waterways and bays.
The site, a rough triangle mostly in St. James formed by Route 25A, Mills Pond Road and the Long Island Rail Road tracks, is one of the largest undeveloped tracts remaining in western Suffolk County.
The county legislature’s Environment, Planning and Agriculture committee on Monday will take up Hahn’s bill, co-sponsored by Legis. Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga). It calls for the county to get appraisals of three parcels of the property totaling 41 acres — the first step before it can use open-space funds to purchase the parcels. The full legislature could take up the matter Nov. 21.
By selling to the county instead of to a developer, Gyrodyne would leave a “legacy to the community,” keeping the land “forever preserved,” Hahn said. A Gyrodyne preserve could join a greenbelt stretching from Stony Brook Harbor to Setauket, she said.
Gyrodyne, a former defense contractor, announced plans over the summer to wind down its operations and sell the site. It submitted conceptual plans to the town that envisioned an assisted-living facility, hotel and office buildings on the site, as part of a $150 million development.
A Smithtown planning board hearing on Gyrodyne’s proposal to subdivide the site is scheduled for Wednesday night.
In a statement, Gyrodyne chief operating officer Peter Pitsiokos said under the company’s plan, 30 acres of the site would remain open space, “forever preserving historic vistas.” The rest of the development, he said, “will primarily serve our community’s senior citizens, our children and others.” He did not address the proposed legislation.
Trotta said in an interview that the county appraisals could at least supply a price per acre for the site, providing a starting point for talks about a project “with minor development and open space, working with the community to find a solution for everyone involved.”
Cindy Smith, a Brookhaven resident who heads the Greater Stony Brook Action Coalition, said several civic groups were against development, which she said would bring the benefits of tax revenue to Smithtown while adding traffic and other burdens to Brookhaven.
“The civics of the Stony Brook area are vehemently opposed” to development, she said.
Brookhaven Supervisor Edward P. Romaine and Head of the Harbor Mayor Douglas Dahlgard also have said they were concerned about development at Gyrodyne.
Smithtown Town councilman Tom McCarthy said in an interview he would support partial preservation, keeping “the 25A historic corridor natural and scenic” and building in the middle of the site.
The town would require an environmental-impact statement before any major development, he said, a process that can take years.
Hahn said in an interview that opposition, combined with the uncertainty that the company or a developer could win town and county planning approvals, might encourage the company to negotiate with the county.
“It would probably be years of fighting,” she said. “Selling it would be a better option.”
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/smithtown-gyrodyne-redevelopment-suffolk-hahn-1.14901208
Edward Romaine seeks reconsideration of Gyrodyne development (10/04/17)
By Rick Brand
Brookhaven Supervisor Edward Romaine and Three Village civic leaders pressed the Suffolk County Planning Commission Wednesday to reconsider approval of a Smithtown subdivision that could include a hotel and assisted living facilities until traffic studies and a master plan are done.
Romaine said he opposed subdivision of the 62.3-acre Gyrodyne property off Route 25A because county planners called for providing access along a private railroad right of way onto Stony Brook Road. The two-lane residential street already is snarled with traffic from Stony Brook University, he said.
“I’m strongly opposed to adding any traffic on Stony Brook Road,” Romaine said. “This will add a lot of traffic on a road that doesn’t need any more . . . It’s not the right way to go.”
Cindy Smith, head of Greater Stony Brook Action Coalition, said Stony Brook Road is a historic road originally built for horse traffic, but now carries more than 100,000 cars daily.
“At peak times, traffic is at a standstill,” Smith said. “As it is, emergency vehicles are often stuck in traffic, endangering lives.”
Valerie Smith, an assistant Suffolk County attorney, said there is no procedure for the commission to reverse its Aug. 2 decision. While several members of the commission sought to make a traffic study a condition of approval, they were outvoted and it was left only as a recommendation.
County planning staff said the uses sought in the subdivision application already are allowed under existing zoning.
But they said as conceptual plans become more specific, developers will have to obtain site plan approvals for each of the eight lots in the project, and the commission could direct that traffic studies be done.
They also said the Smithtown planning board has yet to schedule public hearings on the proposal and could also order an environmental impact study that would include a review of traffic impacts.
Romaine said a master plan for traffic is needed because Stony Brook University has grown to a campus of more than 25,000 students — but the main artery to the campus, four-lane Nicolls Road, has not been expanded in 60 years.
George Hoffman, co-chair of the citizens advisory committee for the Route 25A corridor, which is about to complete a two-year study, said the commission’s action “makes no sense” because the project’s impact goes beyond the border of a single town.
“This is a Smithtown project, but Brookhaven is directly affected,” Hoffman said. “You failed in your job to do regional planning.”
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/politics/edward-romaine-seeks-reconsideration-of-gyrodyne-development-1.14351054
Director Paul Lamb buys 1,500 shares on 8/25/17 (8/28/17)
Paid $20.44 per share.
Controls 4,368 shares in Lamb & Barnosky Profit Sharing Plan, of which Mr. Lamb is Trustee.
The Reporting Person is also the indirect owner: (x) as Trustee of the Paul L. Lamb, P.C. Defined Benefit Plan of 15,022 Common Shares representing limited liability company interest and (y) under the Paul L. Lamb IRA of 17,869 Common Shares representing limited liability company interest.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1244352/000089924317021064/xslF345X03/doc4.xml