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Gyrodyne Receives Preliminary Subdivision Approval For Flowerfield Property (4/01/22)
ST. JAMES, N.Y., April 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Gyrodyne, LLC (NASDAQ: GYRO), an owner and manager of a diversified portfolio of real estate properties ("Gyrodyne"), announced that on March 30, 2022, the Town of Smithtown Planning Board unanimously granted Gyrodyne's application for preliminary subdivision approval with respect to its Flowerfield property, subject to certain conditions including final approval of a stormwater pollution prevention plan, revisions as may be required pursuant to a SEQRA findings resolution adopted earlier and separation of common areas into separate lots.
The Smithtown Planning Board issued its approval of Gyrodyne's subdivision application after earlier that day adopting a findings resolution required under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, and then conducting a public hearing on the preliminary subdivision map. The SEQRA findings resolution was a prerequisite to adopting and approving the preliminary subdivision application, and established certain thresholds with regard to future development of the entire Flowerfield property, including but not limited to thresholds on sanitary discharge, traffic, cleared area and required vegetation.
The SEQRA findings resolution and preliminary approval of Gyrodyne's subdivision application reflect the Planning Board's consideration of over four years of public comment and review of voluminous analyses of economic and environmental impacts, including but not limited to traffic, sewage treatment and viewshed.
Paul Lamb, Gyrodyne's Chairman, said, "We are pleased by the Town's adoption of these resolutions as they are a critical gating factor in Gyrodyne's ability to both develop the Flowerfield property in a manner responsive to the community's interests and move the project forward to enhance shareholder value."
The findings resolution and preliminary subdivision application approval allow the subdivision application to proceed to its next phase of final subdivision approval, which includes securing Suffolk County Department of Health and Department of Public Works approvals (pending), New York State Department of Transportation approvals and final subdivision map approval from the Town of Smithtown. In this regard, Gyrodyne will be required to provide additional engineering analysis to the Town of Smithtown, Suffolk County and New York State regarding, among other things, a proposed sewage treatment plant, proposed traffic improvements on local roadways and State Route 25A, and storm drainage, internal roadway and utility infrastructure, much of which analysis has already been completed.
Gary Fitlin, Gyrodyne's Chief Executive Officer, commented that, while additional reviews and filings will need to be conducted, the resolutions are a milestone in Gyrodyne's efforts to steward the development of Flowerfield in a manner that has embraced all stakeholders.
Gyrodyne will continue to actively market its entire Flowerfield property on the basis of nine subdivided lots subject to and contingent upon final approval for the subdivision and related entitlements. Gyrodyne will also seek offers from potential buyers who may be willing to purchase the entire Flowerfield property or portions thereof on an "as is" basis, as well as offers for the company as a whole, that Gyrodyne finds more attractive from a timing or value perspective.
About Gyrodyne, LLC
Gyrodyne, LLC owns and manages a diversified portfolio of real estate properties comprising office, industrial and service-oriented properties in the New York metropolitan area. Gyrodyne owns a 63 acre site approximately 50 miles east of New York City on the north shore of Long Island, which includes industrial and office buildings and undeveloped property which is the subject of plans to seek value-enhancing entitlements. Gyrodyne also owns a medical office park in Cortlandt Manor, New York which is also the subject of a subdivision application. Gyrodyne's common shares are traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol GYRO. Additional information about Gyrodyne may be found on its web site at www.gyrodyne.com.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gyrodyne-receives-preliminary-subdivision-approval-for-flowerfield-property-301515883.html
Gyrodyne clears hurdle for St. James development (3/31/22)
By Nicholas Spangler
Gyrodyne won subdivision approval Wednesday night for its 75-acre St. James property, among the largest mostly undeveloped sites in Smithtown and western Suffolk County.
Smithtown’s five-person Planning Board voted unanimously with no public deliberation after two-and-a-half hours of comment. The former defense contractor’s application sought to divide its property into eight lots for uses such as a hotel, assisted living and medical offices. Catering facility Flowerfield Celebrations, located at the site, will not be altered by the subdivision and its operations will continue.
Subdivision is not necessary to develop the North Country Road property, most of which is zoned for light industry, but it will let the company sell or build on pieces of its land. of its land. The massive property was once home to a helicopter manufacturing facility and before that, a flower bulb farm. The company still needs final subdivision approval from the town for technical and engineering matters, along with individual site plans and perhaps special exceptions. Town officials said last week that any construction was at least a year or a year-and-a-half away.
Wednesday night’s hearing was contentious, mostly on battle lines established after the company submitted its application in 2017. Neighbors who participated in the hearing, which was conducted virtually, said the company’s plans threatened to destroy a bucolic corner of the North Shore through increased traffic and unsightly concrete. Gyrodyne representatives said they were careful to mitigate any negative impacts from development by including in their designs a vegetative buffer along North Country Road, forbidding left turns into and out of a complex entrance, and other steps.
“When it’s gone, it’s gone — we’ll never get it back,” said Arlene Goldstein, a St. James artist who spoke about the rural feel of the area.
Reprising their long-standing opposition to the project Wednesday night were Brookhaven Supervisor Edward Romaine and Head of the Harbor Mayor Douglas Dahlgard, who both represent constituencies near the Gyrodyne site but have had no oversight of the Town of Smithtown land use matter.
“There are a lot of people in my town that are adamantly opposed to this,” said Romaine, adding that area roads are already carrying far more traffic than they were designed to serve.
“This is right on the border of our town," he said, "within 300 feet of the Stony Brook Historic District.”
A traffic study commissioned by the company during environmental review found the added traffic would be manageable. The town has set traffic load limits but neighbors questioned the veracity of the study. Some questioned the feasibility of monitoring and enforcement for those limits and others the town imposed as part of its subdivision approval, like a limit to wastewater flow for a proposed sewage treatment plant to serve the site.
A lawyer for Gyrodyne, J. Timothy Shea, Jr., did not rebut all concerns but said the company had designed the project specifically “so you won’t have to be burdened with traffic.” A Gyrodyne traffic expert who testified in 2010 that commercial development would cause traffic to skyrocket, had been speaking about land the company once owned in Brookhaven and since taken by Stony Brook University, not about its Smithtown holdings, he said.
https://www.newsday.com/amp/long-island/suffolk/gyrodyne-st-james-development-smithtown-planning-board-lapzlkl0
Follow through will be critical for success of new Gyrodyne compromise plan (3/25/22)
https://tbrnewsmedia.com/follow-through-will-be-critical-for-success-of-new-gyrodyne-compromise-plan/
Star Equity Fund Announces Intent to Nominate Director Candidates at Gyrodyne, LLC (3/23/22)
Believes Significant Board Change is Necessary to Create Shareholder Value
OLD GREENWICH, Conn., March 23, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Star Equity Fund, LP (“Star Equity Fund” or “we”), a shareholder of Gyrodyne, LLC (Nasdaq: GYRO) (“Gyrodyne” or the “Company”), announced today its intent to nominate a slate of highly qualified director candidates for election to the Gyrodyne board of directors (the “Board”) at the Company’s 2022 annual meeting of shareholders. We believe significant change to the Board is needed to create value for all shareholders and we have identified a number of highly qualified candidates who would act in the best interests of all shareholders.
Gyrodyne shareholders have long suffered value destruction during the incumbent Board’s tenure. Following its class action settlement with shareholders in August 2015, Gyrodyne agreed to liquidate its then four-property real estate portfolio, return the proceeds to its shareholders, and dissolve the Company. Almost seven years have passed, and the Company has sold only two of those properties with the completion of the second sale occurring in August 2018, while management and the Board have been receiving compensation the entire time. With the Company’s Flowerfield and Cortlandt Manor properties yet to be sold, we have little confidence Gyrodyne will complete its liquidation any time soon. We believe the Company effectively has become a compensation vehicle for the incumbent Board at the expense of shareholders.
We are also concerned with the Board’s potential compensation tied to the dissolution process. The Company has a plan in place such that upon liquidation of its properties, 5% of the gross sale proceeds are allocated to its Board members and management as long as the proceeds exceed the properties’ appraised values. In addition, Board members and management earn a fee on any incremental gross proceeds in excess of the 2013 appraised value. We believe the liquidation bonus pool is egregious with 65% of the proceeds going to the Board, which unfairly benefits a poorly performing incumbent Board to the detriment of shareholders.
In addition, the incumbent Board has a track record of poor corporate governance. Proxy advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis have noted numerous issues with Gyrodyne’s Board and corporate governance, notably in their reports related to the Company’s 2021 annual meeting of shareholders. These proxy advisory firms recommended a vote against the Company’s say-on-pay proposal in 2021 due to Gyrodyne having demonstrated poor responsiveness following shareholder dissent on the previous year’s say-on-pay proposal. Further, Glass Lewis recommended shareholders withhold votes from all Gyrodyne’s nominees in 2021 and cited the 34% withhold vote rate on the Company’s nominees at the 2020 annual meeting of shareholders as evidence for a “high level of shareholder disapproval.” This withhold rate jumped to a staggering 40% in 2021. Both firms also noted the incumbent Board lacks gender diversity.
We have requested Gyrodyne send us the director nominee questionnaire and the representation and agreement for shareholder nominees, which the Company is required to provide upon written request under its Limited Liability Company Agreement, as amended (“LLC Agreement”). Unfortunately, the Company has not responded to our request. Should Gyrodyne continue to refuse to provide these materials to us on a reasonable timeframe, we are fully prepared to take all actions necessary to enforce our rights to the fullest extent of the law and under the Company’s LLC Agreement. We have repeatedly attempted to reach the Company through various means including via US Postal Service, FedEx, e-mail, and telephone.
Additionally, Gyrodyne’s LLC Agreement requires a nominating shareholder to have held at least $2,000 worth, or 1%, of the Company’s common stock for at least one year or be entitled to cast votes with respect to at least 5% of the Company’s outstanding shares. We have held our shares for less than one year, so we do not meet this threshold. We strongly believe that this requirement inhibits shareholder participation and serves as an entrenchment mechanism for the incumbents. We request that Gyrodyne waive these prohibitive requirements in order to facilitate shareholder input at the Company.
Gyrodyne’s long-suffering shareholders deserve better and we aim to give them an opportunity for much-needed change on the Board.
About Star Equity Fund, LP
Star Equity Fund, LP is an investment fund managed by Star Equity Holdings, Inc. Star Equity Fund seeks to unlock shareholder value and improve corporate governance at its portfolio companies.
About Star Equity Holdings, Inc.
Star Equity Holdings, Inc. is a diversified holding company with three divisions: Healthcare, Construction, and Investments.
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/03/23/2408546/0/en/Star-Equity-Fund-Announces-Intent-to-Nominate-Director-Candidates-at-Gyrodyne-LLC.html
Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Co. LLC beneficially owns 134,102 shares (12/31/21)
Controls 9.04 percent.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1352662/000107261322000085/gyrodyne-sch13g_18589.htm
Initial Schedule 13G.
TowerView LLC beneficially owns 101,500 shares (12/31/21)
Controls 6.8 percent.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001589061/000114036122001419/brhc10032757_sc13ga.htm
GAMCO Investors, Inc. beneficially owns 272,388 shares (12/20/21)
Controls 18.37 percent.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001589061/000080724921000202/gyro_09.htm
Poplar Point Capital Management LLC beneficially owns 19,791 shares (12/13/21)
Controls 1.33 percent.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001589061/000110465921149943/tm2135549d1_sc13ga.htm
GAMCO Investors, Inc. beneficially owns 256,067 shares (12/09/21)
Controls 17.27 percent.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001589061/000080724921000197/gyro_08.htm
GAMCO Investors, Inc. beneficially owns 238,398 shares (11/26/21)
Controls 16.08 percent.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001589061/000080724921000191/gyro_07.htm
Poplar Point Capital Management LLC beneficially owns 97,874 shares (10/19/21)
Controls 6.6 percent.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001589061/000110465921128187/tm2130723d1_sc13ga.htm
GAMCO Investors, Inc. beneficially owns 223,526 shares (9/03/21)
Controls 15.08 percent.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/807249/000080724921000150/gyro_06.htm
GAMCO Investors, Inc. beneficially owns 203,256 shares (8/27/21)
Controls 13.71 percent.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/807249/000080724921000145/gyro_05.htm
Plans for sewage treatment unclear in latest Gyrodyne subdivision proposal (3/22/21)
By Nicholas Spangler
The final environmental impact statement for subdivision of the 75-acre Gyrodyne property, one of the largest undeveloped parcels in Smithtown, eliminates a proposed restaurant and conference center and makes other smaller changes to the development mix proposed for the site.
But the four-volume document posted on the town website this month offers little new information about a proposed sewage treatment plant town officials have said could be built large enough to handle wastewater from the Lake Avenue St. James business district about a mile away. While former defense contractor Gyrodyne has "represented willingness to discuss a potential connection" if a sewer district is formed for that area, the company "has designed the STP without the intention of accepting outside flows," according to the report, prepared by a Gyrodyne consultant and reviewed by town environmental officials. STP is an acronym for a sewage treatment plant.
A spokeswoman for Suffolk County, which would manage any public treatment plant, wrote in an email that "the County has never been asked to consider the expansion of public sewers in the area using a larger plant at the Gyrodyne site."
Gyrodyne president Gary Fitlin did not respond to a request for comment.
Gyrodyne proposed a plant with a capacity of 100,000 gallons of wastewater per day, more than enough for the 87,591 gallons they expect their site to generate, but a bigger plant would be needed to also process 71,000 gallons per day expected from Lake Avenue.
The subdivision would include two lots with 175,000 square feet of office space, a third with a 125-room hotel and a fourth with a 250-unit assisted living facility. The existing catering hall and most of the light-industrial space would remain on two more lots. Lot 7 would be 15 acres of greenspace; lot 8, a little over 7 acres, would be devoted to the plant.
Public comment on the report runs through March 31. After review by town environmental officials, the Smithtown Planning Board could schedule a public hearing this spring on subdivision approval for eight lots. The Town Board would review individual site plans for proposed new uses.
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Some Gyrodyne neighbors have said the proposed subdivision would lead to congested roads and pollution of nearby Stony Brook Harbor, arguments company representatives have said are not true, but the plan has support from others who see it as a fast track to business district sewers. Heightening the stakes is the town’s installation of a sewer line under Lake Avenue, completed recently with $3.9 million in grant funding, in anticipation of eventual hookup to a plant.
Earlier this month, the St. James-Head of the Harbor Neighborhood Preservation Coalition, represented by Head of the Harbor Village trustee Judy Ogden, faulted town officials for what she said were misleading statements about the ease of hookup at Gyrodyne and the difficulty of hooking up elsewhere.
"We need straight talk and a real plan to get businesses in Saint James connected to sewers," Ogden said in a release.
Town spokeswoman Nicole Garguilo said in an interview that "the town is going to take whichever path forward is the most efficient and has the best options for the community and the environment."
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/gyrodyne-environmental-review-sewage-plant-greenspace-1.50190757
Gyrodyne, LLC received a notice dated 3/16/21 from BSL St. James LLC that it is terminating that certain Purchase and Sale Agreement dated as of 8/27/19 between BSL and GSD Flowerfield LLC, a New York limited liability company and wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company for the sale of an approximately nine acre parcel of vacant land within the Company’s 68-acre Flowerfield property in Smithtown, New York, for a purchase price of $16,800,000 (3/22/21)
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1589061/000143774921006741/gyrllc20210322_8k.htm
Gyrodyne, LLC received a notice dated 2/01/21 from Sound Cortlandt, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, that it is terminating that certain Purchase and Sale Agreement dated as of 12/07/19 for the sale of approximately 4.5 acres of the Company’s real property located in Cortlandt Manor, New York and the improvements thereon to SC LLC for a purchase price of $5,720,000 (2/05/21)
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1589061/000143774921002126/gyrllc20210205_8k.htm
Cortlandt Officials Briefed on Revised Plans for MOD Projects (9/13/20)
By Rick Pezzullo
The Cortlandt Town Board last week was given updated presentations from the development teams of two mixed-use projects near New York-Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital on Route 202 in Cortlandt.
Representatives of Evergreen Manor and Gyrodyne explained their revised conceptual plans via Zoom for separate sites in a so called Medical Oriented District (MOD), a zoning district created to encourage economic revitalization in the area surrounding the hospital and implement the goals and recommendations outlined in the town’s 2016 Sustainable Comprehensive Plan.
Residents and Town Board members have raised concerns about the additional traffic the developments will bring to an already overburdened roadway and the magnitude of the projects. As a result, the masterminds and builders behind the projects went back to the drawing board and made some changes.
“We’re excited about this project. We heard the concerns of the community very loud and very clear,” said Phil DiGennaro of Sound Development Corp., one of the principles with the Gyrodyne development. “We think it fits. From our standpoint we just think it makes a lot of sense.”
The major change made to the 13.8-acre Gyrodyne parcel is the elimination of a 200-unit, multifamily residential building. In addition, a two-phase approach is now planned over a five-year period.
Phase one includes a three-story, 100,00 square-foot medical office building and a 303-car structured parking facility. The existing 30,000 square feet medical office that is on the property now will remain operational during the construction of phase one.
In phase two, the existing medical office will be replaced with an 84,600, three-story medical office with an integrated 290-car structured parking garage in the area where the 200-unit, five-story residential apartment was originally proposed.
“We see phase one and two as an integrated medical office campus,” said Kevin McAndrew of Cameron Engineering.
Meanwhile, changes have also been made to the Evergreen Manor project proposed by Val and Armando Santucci of VS Construction.
Gone from the project is a five-story, 100-room hotel, 7,000-square-foot restaurant and a 30,000-square-foot mixed-use retail/office building. Added are 100 senior age-restricted condominiums in two buildings. Also planned on the 28 acres is a 120- unit assisted living facility and 166 residential rental units (152 studio and one-bedroom units and 12 two-bedroom).
“I still believe it’s a big project,” Cortlandt Supervisor Linda Puglisi said.
However, councilmen Richard Becker and James Creighton said the developments, which include $3 million for studies and traffic improvements, have the potential of significantly enhancing traffic flow along Route 202.
“We need the improvements on these roads,” Creighton said.
If approved, both projects are projected to generate more than $4.5 million annually in tax revenue, along with 780 construction jobs and 195 permanent on-site jobs. Currently five new traffic signals in the area are planned and turning lanes, along with sidewalks and other enhancements.
Town Attorney Thomas Wood said final Environmental Impact Studies (EIS) on both projects are expected to be submitted to town officials by the end of the year or early 2021. A public hearing is likely to be held in March.
https://www.theexaminernews.com/cortlandt-officials-briefed-on-revised-plans-for-mod-projects/
Gyrodyne sewage plant proposal wins initial approval (6/23/20)
By Nicholas Spangler
Gyrodyne’s proposal for a sewage treatment plant to support development of its St. James property advanced this week with a certification from the Suffolk County Sewer Agency.
The nonbinding measure, called a conceptual certification, is intended for projects like Gyrodyne’s where applicants seek broad guidance on the type of wastewater disposal methods the agency would like to see before they seek its final approval for a specific design. In this case, the sewer agency cannot grant that approval until Smithtown officials finish an environmental review of the company’s broader proposal to subdivide its 75-acre property for uses, such as a hotel, assisted living facility and offices.
The agency’s board, composed of four Suffolk County officials and three county legislators, voted 7-0 Monday to approve the measure. A staff memo recommended approval. The plant would handle up to 100,000 gallons of wastewater per day, replacing on-site septic systems currently in use. There is no municipal sewer district in the area.
Opponents including residents and some local elected officials — though not, notably, Smithtown Town Board members — have said Gyrodyne’s plans could wreak traffic, water and environmental woes on the area. Assemb. Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) warned in a letter to the agency’s commissioner last week that the plant would create “significant impacts” for the environmentally sensitive Stony Brook Harbor, which is nearby. Brookhaven civic leaders including George Hoffman and Cindy Smith also pleaded for no votes at Monday’s Zoom hearing, suggesting that the certification would be little more than a marketing tool for Gyrodyne as the company attempts to sell its lots and warning that the county may be left in charge of the plant after the company liquidates and goes out of business, a plan company leadership announced in 2017.
“They will leave everybody stuck with the problems and expenses” of biohazards and nitrogen pollution, said Carl Safina, a Stony Brook University ecologist.
A Gyrodyne engineer said Monday the proposed plant would use a technology called a sequencing batch reactor, which would actually reduce the amount of nitrogen leaving the site and going into the watershed, though a Suffolk Health department representative said she had not seen the engineering report that would confirm that claim.
Smithtown Supervisor Edward Wehrheim and his fellow town board members, wary of the possibility of industrial development at the site and excited over the economic development prospects, have been generally supportive of the project and Wehrheim underscored their position in a letter he sent to the agency Monday.
Town officials have also asked the company to consider building a treatment plant with capacity to serve downtown St. James, where work is underway to lay a dry sewer line in anticipation of future hookup. Gyrodyne representatives said Monday that their application does not include plans for a plant of that size, though there is room for expansion to treat the additional 71,000 gallons per day the St. James hookup would bring.
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/gyrodyne-sewage-treatment-plant-approval-1.46036362
Hearing Slated on Zoom for Medical Oriented District in Cortlandt (6/09/20)
A public hearing on two mixed-used projects in the vicinity of New York Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital on Route 202 in Cortlandt is scheduled to be held Tuesday, June 16 at 7 p.m. on Zoom.
During a hearing in January, more than 150 people jammed into Cortlandt Town Hall to voice their displeasure with the Evergreen Manor and Gyrodyne developments that would separately occupy almost 42 acres across from the hospital.
One of the most outspoken opponents was Cortlandt Supervisor Linda Puglisi who maintained the project was too big for the area to sustain.
The Evergreen Manor project involves the redevelopment of three vacant contiguous parcels totaling 28 acres with a 120-unit assisted living facility, a five-story, 100-room hotel with 13,000 square feet of retail space, 30,000-square-foot mixed-used retail/office building, 166 residential units (152 studios and one-bedroom units and 12 two-bedroom) and a 7,000-square-foot restaurant.
The Gyrodyne site includes the redevelopment of eight contiguous parcels totaling 13.8 acres with 100,000 square feet of medical offices, 4,000 square feet of complementary retail, 200 market rate apartments, 180 structured parking spaces and 383 at-grade parking spaces.
If approved, both projects are projected to generate more than $4.5 million annually in tax revenue, along with 780 construction jobs and 195 permanent on-site jobs.
The go-ahead for the projects was the zoning creation by town officials of the Medical Oriented District (MOD), the intent of which is to encourage economic revitalization in the area surrounding the hospital and implement the goals and recommendations outlined in the town’s 2016 Sustainable Comprehensive Plan.
However, the Town Board, which is the lead agency, must approve rezoning the properties to MOD for the projects to proceed. The developers have insisted their plans are consistent with the town’s vision as outlined in the most recent Master Plan.
Since the last hearing, the developers, VS Construction and Cameron Engineering, have submitted updated reports and revised plans that will be discussed on June 16.
To make sure the Zoom application is installed and working properly, residents are being advised to log in to Zoom at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the meeting, using the link https://zoom.us/download.
Anyone wishing to make oral comments during the Zoom meeting must register in advance of the meeting with the Town Clerk by 4 p.m. on June 16 by emailing townclerk@townofcortlandt.com.
Residents may also send questions or comments in writing or via email. Officials stress written and emailed comments have the same exact force and effect as asking a question during the public hearing itself. Written and emailed comments must be received no later than June 30, should the public hearing be closed. The applicants must respond to all questions posed as part of the DGEIS review process, regardless of the medium used to ask the questions.
Written comments should be addressed to: Town of Cortlandt, Laroue Shatzkin, Town Clerk, 1 Heady Street, Cortlandt Manor, NY 10567. Comments can also be submitted by email to MOD@TOWNOFCORTLANDT.COM.
https://www.theexaminernews.com/hearing-slated-on-zoom-for-medical-oriented-district-in-cortlandt/
Village worries about proposed sewage treatment plant (6/01/20)
By Nicholas Spangler
proposed sewage treatment plant on Gyrodyne property could threaten drinking water for Head of the Harbor village residents and the health of Stony Brook Harbor, village Mayor Douglas Dahlgard wrote in a letter to county officials.
“The land slopes downward from the Gyrodyne property to the Harbor,” and chemicals from Route 25A, where the company’s property is located, have contaminated village wells in the past, Dahlgard wrote in a May 27 letter to county sewer agency officials and legislators.
“The issues raised in the Mayor’s letter should be raised and addressed by the environmental review as part of the SEQRA process,” Suffolk County Department of Public Works Commissioner Joseph Brown said in a statement, referring to the New York State-mandated environmental review by its acronym. “The SEQRA process for Gyrodyne has not been completed and therefore, the Sewer Agency is not currently prepared to make final determination or grant any binding approval for this project.”
County officials have begun a preliminary review of Gyrodyne’s proposal, a county spokeswoman said. Its purpose is to determine what type of wastewater and disposal systems would be appropriate for the site or, alternatively, how the site might connect to a county sewer district.
Gyrodyne president Gary Fitlin said in an email that a treatment plant would offer a “unique opportunity to substantially reduce nitrogen loading in a public-private partnership on an expedited time frame,” replacing less efficient septic systems in use at the company’s property and potentially also those along Lake Avenue in St. James if that area is connected to the plant, an idea floated by Smithtown Supervisor Edward Wehrheim.
Dahlgard and others, including Brookhaven officials and residents, are skeptical of planned development of the Gyrodyne site for uses like medical offices, a hotel and an assisted living facility, and have raised concerns over the increased flow that would result from connecting a Lake Avenue sewer line to the plant.
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/gyrodyne-drinking-water-head-of-the-harbor-1.45176024
Gyrodyne says in annual report it may rent more space to Stony Brook U. (3/30/20)
By Nicholas Spangler
Gyrodyne, the company proposing to subdivide its St. James property for uses like medical offices, assisted living and a hotel, said in an annual report last week that it might expand its relationship with Stony Brook University.
The university and affiliates like Stony Brook Hospital rent more than one-fifth of the 127,481 rentable square feet at Gyrodyne’s Flowerfield location on North Country Road near the Brookhaven Town border. The university pays $628,440 in rent now, and its payments are expected to make up about 30% of Gyrodyne’s 2020 rent revenues. The company collected $2.2 million in rent payments in 2019 at Flowerfield and a Westchester property, Cortlandt Manor.
The annual report, known as a 10-k and filed on March 26 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said expanding its leasing relationship with Stony Brook was a “core part” of its strategy. There is unrented space at Flowerfield, and Gyrodyne in February signed an agreement with a real estate finance firm intended in part to “finance tenant improvements on new leases;” it could also draw on an existing loan to finance improvements the university or other tenants might need.
Company representatives said they expected Smithtown would finish its environmental review of the company’s proposal over the summer. Gyrodyne would subdivide about 70 acres for development.
Smithtown officials have said the project could bring significant tax revenues and bonuses, including a sewage treatment plant that would serve downtown St. James as well as the Gyrodyne site. Neighbors — including elected officials from Brookhaven Town, Head of the Harbor Village and civic groups — have said development on the scale the company is proposing could bring traffic and environmental problems.
Gary Fitlin, the company’s chief executive, did not respond to a request for comment, and neither did a Stony Brook spokeswoman.
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/gyrodyne-rent-subdivide-sewer-stony-brook-university-annual-report-1.43484119
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
Director Nader Salour buys 1,000 shares between 8/17/17 and 8/18/17 (8/18/17)
Prices paid range from $20.38 to $20.45.
Controls 2,866 shares.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1380362/000121465917005202/xslF345X03/marketforms-39476.xml
Director Nader Salour buys 1,020 shares on 8/15/17 (8/17/17)
Prices paid range from $20.20 to $20.45.
Controls 1,866 shares.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1380362/000121465917005188/xslF345X03/marketforms-39463.xml
Smithtown parcel could host hotel, offices under plan (8/20/17)
By Rick Brand and Nicholas Spangler
St. James real estate company is proposing to develop one of the largest tracts of industrial land in Smithtown into a hotel and medical facilities — but some town and village officials say they have traffic and environmental concerns about the plan.
Gyrodyne, the former defense contractor that owns the mostly open 62-acre Flowerfield tract off Route 25A near the Smithtown-Brookhaven border, has made applications to Smithtown and Suffolk County to subdivide the property.
The company envisions a $150 million development, with assisted living in addition to the hotel and medical offices, according to paperwork submitted with the applications.
The subdivision would be the biggest in years and probably the last of its size in Smithtown, which is mostly built out, said the town’s planning director, David Flynn.
The tract would be divided into eight parcels. Most of the land now is zoned for light industry, but the bulk of a 9.5-acre section zoned residential would remain as open space, in preliminary plans the company submitted.
The Suffolk County Planning Commission approved Gyrodyne’s subdivision application Aug. 2, and Smithtown’s planning board could schedule a hearing this fall, though the town’s chief planner said approvals could take years.
Smithtown’s traffic safety director and town engineer already have asked for additional studies and plan revisions. Gyrodyne or a future owner would need to obtain a special exception from the Smithtown Town Board to build a hotel or assisted living facility, but would only need site plan approval for offices.
The county planning commission is involved because the Gyrodyne tract sits at the intersection of state, town and village jurisdictions. County planning staff said at the Aug. 2 hearing that the proposed development could attract investment, maximize the tax base and create skilled employment opportunities.
Gyrodyne announced earlier this summer it would sell its assets and voluntarily unwind operations by the end of next year. Founded in the 1940s, Gyrodyne built helicopters and miltary drones at Flowerfield and by 1963 had more than 700 employees. The company started renting manufacturing space there for light industry in 1972. It eventually shed its manufacturing business and now operates as a real estate investment
In a brief phone interview, Gyrodyne president Gary Fitlin said the plan was designed to easily clear official reviews.
“We want to be a good neighbor, even though we are selling,” Fitlin said. “We did not go after maximum density . . . We are keeping a significant amount of open space in the development plan.”
Gyrodyne is not seeking any changes for a portion of the tract that houses an existing light industry park, he said. Most of the tenants are small businesses, including art studios and a gym. A caterer on the site owns its own property.
It was not clear if the company would seek to develop the property itself or sell the land to developers after winning approvals, and Fitlin did not make himself available to answer additional questions.
But Brookhaven Town Supervisor Edward P. Romaine and Head of the Harbor Village Mayor Douglas Dahlgard, whose communities abut the Gyrodyne property, said they worry the project would add more traffic to area roads — particularly Route 25A, the area’s major thoroughfare and Stony Brook Road, which intersects with 25A.
“We are going to be adamantly opposed to additional traffic on Stony Brook Road, and we will take whatever recourse under the law that we are allowed to do,” Romaine said in an interview Friday, amplifying concerns he expressed in a letter to the Suffolk County Planning Commission earlier this month. He pledged to attend an upcoming commission meeting in Shelter Island to speak on the issue.
Dahlgard wrote in an email to Newsday that he was concerned over fire coverage and the possibility of nitrogen from the development’s wastewater seeping into Stony Brook Harbor or into the village’s drinking water.
Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio declined to comment, saying he first wanted to examine the plans.
Michael Kaufman, a planning board member who proposed requiring a traffic study, also expressed concerns about the project’s impact on traffic on Route 25A, which he said was already over its planned capacity. He sought assurances about how a sewage treatment plant needed for the development could affect Stony Brook Harbor, and how developers could find “synergy” with nearby Stony Brook University. A Stony Brook representative declined to comment on the subdivision
Jennifer Casey, county planning commission chairwoman, said she favored mandating traffic studies on both Route 25A and Stony Brook Road, but said a commission majority opposed making it a requirement, instead opting to make it a recommendation.
“I understand his concerns because it is a big project,” Casey said of Romaine. She could not say if Brookhaven has any recourse after the board’s vote, but said she is willing to let Romaine speak at the next meeting.
The commission’s staff said new access to the site from Route 25A should only be considered if it is determined that access from Mills Pond Road or Stony Brook Road is inadequate.
But Romaine discounted the idea that traffic could be shifted onto Stony Brook Road by using an existing easement near the Long Island Rail Road tracks that stretches from the Gyrodyne property through Stony Brook University property, to Stony Brook Road.
“The recommendation fails to note . . . the existing . . . access is a private easement currently closed to traffic,” he said in his letter.
In addition, Romaine and Head of the Harbor Zoning Board of Appeals chairman Joseph Bollhofer have complained that they received scant notice or detail about the county hearing earlier this month. Casey said her agency followed the requirements for notification.
Romaine also sent a letter to the county legislature Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory asking county lawmakers to pass legislation requiring the commission to give towns at least 10 days’ notice and the full details of any application. Without such information, Romaine wrote, “it hampers a town’s ability to provide an intelligent response.”
Gregory said Romaine’s suggestion did “not seem unreasonable” and he said he would talk to legislative counsel about drafting a resolution.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story mischaracterized the status of a catering business. The business owns the land on which it operates. In addition, the size of the Flowerfield industrial tract in Smithtown was incorrect. It is 62.3 acres.
http://www.newsday.com/business/smithtown-parcel-could-host-hotel-offices-under-plan-1.14074793
Gyrodyne aims to sell properties, voluntarily unwind business (6/29/17)
By Ken Schachter
Gyrodyne LLC, the St. James real estate company that won a $167.5 million settlement in 2012 from New York State in an eminent domain battle, hopes to sell its assets and voluntarily unwind its operations by the end of 2018, the company’s chief executive said.
Gary Fitlin, president and CEO, said in a telephone interview this week that a $1 per share special dividend will be sent to the company’s public shareholders in July. The $1 special dividend represents the $2 million in net proceeds from selling two buildings in the Port Jefferson Professional Park.
The value of the company’s remaining assets — calculated at $17.97 per share as of June 23 — would be sent to stockholders after Gyrodyne’s properties are sold, Fitlin said.
Gyrodyne hopes to increase the value of its primary asset, the 62-acre Flowerfield property in St. James, by getting approval from the Town of Smithtown for a 150-room hotel and restaurant, medical office buildings and assisted living buildings. Another significant holding is a medical office park in Westchester County’s Cortlandt Manor.
Fitlin said Gyrodyne’s subdivision plan with the Town of Smithtown would leave open space for walking trails in accordance with the “vision” of the municipality.
“We’re not interested in extended debate with the town,” Fitlin said.
But he acknowledged that the effort to get the town’s clearance makes the timing of Gyrodyne’s voluntary liquidation uncertain.
“We’re hoping by the end of 2018,” he said. But “the town is in control of the process.”
Gyrodyne’s shares closed Thursday at $20.65, up 34 cents, on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
New York State’s $167.5 million payment to Gyrodyne stemmed from a 2006 lawsuit over a 245.4-acre parcel of company land that was condemned under eminent domain and annexed to Stony Brook University. Gyrodyne argued that the land — now the site of Stony Brook’s Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology — was worth more than the $26.3 million the state initially paid.
Fitlin, formerly Gyrodyne’s chief financial officer, was named chief executive May 1 after Frederick Braun stepped down, effective April 30.
http://www.newsday.com/business/gyrodyne-aims-to-sell-properties-voluntarily-unwind-business-1.13770696
Sale of Property (6/15/17)
On June 15, 2017, Gyrodyne, LLC (the “Company”), through its wholly owned subsidiary GSD Port Jefferson, LLC, completed the sale of the two buildings located at 9 Medical Drive and 5380 Nesconset Highway in the Port Jefferson Professional Park for an aggregate purchase price of $2,000,000 pursuant to the previously announced Purchase and Sale Agreement dated as of March 30, 2017.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1589061/000143774917011402/gyrllc20170616_8k.htm
Gyrodyne Declares $1.00 Per Share Special Distribution (6/16/17)
ST. JAMES, New York, June 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Gyrodyne, LLC (NASDAQ: GYRO), an owner and manager of a diversified portfolio of real estate properties ("Gyrodyne"), announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash distribution in the amount of $1,482,680 or $1.00 per share. The special distribution consists of the net proceeds from the recently consummated sale of two additional buildings in the Port Jefferson Professional Park. The distribution is payable on July 7, 2017 to shareholders of record as of June 27, 2017. The Company expects NASDAQ to set the ex-dividend date as June 23, 2017. Shareholders who sell their shares prior to the ex-dividend date will also be selling their right to receive the special cash distribution.
Gary Fitlin, President and CEO of Gyrodyne, said: "This cash distribution permits us to distribute the net proceeds from the two buildings in the Port Jefferson Professional Park that we sold in June 2017, consistent with our objective of returning cash to our shareholders periodically as we sell properties and implement our strategic plan to liquidate in due course. Gyrodyne intends to continue making special distributions as it executes on its strategic plan, and we look forward to implementing and executing additional events that will provide liquidity and value to our shareholders."
Gyrodyne is currently pursuing certain enhancements (inclusive of entitlements and rezoning) of its Flowerfield and Cortlandt Manor properties in an effort to maximize the value of those properties prior to their ultimate disposition. There can be no assurance concerning the type, form, structure, nature, results, timing or terms and conditions of any transaction that may result from the Company's enhancement efforts. The Company does not expect to pay quarterly or annual distributions, but rather special distributions as proceeds are generated from transactions during the liquidation process.
About Gyrodyne, LLC
Gyrodyne, LLC owns and manages a diversified portfolio of real estate properties comprising office, industrial and service-oriented properties in the New York metropolitan area. Gyrodyne owns a 68 acre site approximately 50 miles east of New York City on the north shore of Long Island, which includes industrial and office buildings and undeveloped property which is the subject of plans to seek value-enhancing entitlements. Gyrodyne also owns medical office buildings in Port Jefferson Station, New York, as well as Cortlandt Manor, New York which is also the subject of plans to seek value-enhancing entitlements. Gyrodyne's common shares are traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol GYRO. Additional information about Gyrodyne may be found on its web site at www.gyrodyne.com.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gyrodyne-declares-100-per-share-special-distribution-300475417.html
Gary Fitlin replaces Frederick Braun as President and CEO (4/19/17)
Gyrodyne, LLC and Frederick C. Braun III, our President and Chief Executive Officer, entered into a separation agreement dated April 6, 2017, pursuant to which Mr. Braun will be separating from the Company on mutually agreeable terms effective April 30, 2017. The decision to separate was a mutual one between the Company and Mr. Braun and made following discussions between the Company’s Board of Directors and management regarding the need for cost reductions.
Under the Agreement, the Company will pay Mr. Braun an aggregate separation amount of $285,000, which is the equivalent, in the aggregate, of 33.28 weeks of severance at his current rate of pay plus the amount of the bonus set forth in paragraph 3(b) of the employment agreement between Mr. Braun and Gyrodyne Company of America, Inc. dated May 15, 2013. The Separation Payment represents an amount that was already substantially expected to be paid to Mr. Braun upon the liquidation and dissolution of the Company and, accordingly, $275,000 of the Separation Payment was included in the estimated liquidation and operating costs net of receipts line item in the Company’s Consolidated Statement of Net Assets reported on a liquidation basis, which was included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016 and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 31, 2017. The Separation Payment is conditioned upon Mr. Braun signing a supplemental release by May 22, 2017 but not before April 30, 2017, and is payable in a single lump sum within three business days following the effective date of the supplemental release.
The Agreement was subject to a revocation period pursuant to which Mr. Braun had seven days following the date he signed the Agreement to change his mind. Such period expired on April 14, 2017 without revocation.
As a result of the mutual agreement between the Company and Mr. Braun that Mr. Braun will separate from the Company as its Chief Executive Officer and President effective April 30, 2017, the Board of Directors of the Company appointed Gary Fitlin, currently the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective May 1, 2017.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1589061/000143774917006799/gyrllc20170419_8k.htm
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Gyrodyne, LLC owns and manages a diversified portfolio of real estate properties comprising office, industrial and service-oriented properties primarily in the New York metropolitan area. Gyrodyne, LLC owns a 68 acre site approximately 50 miles east of New York City on the north shore of Long Island, which includes industrial and office buildings and undeveloped property which is the subject of development plans. Gyrodyne, LLC also owns medical office buildings in Port Jefferson Station, New York, Cortlandt Manor, New York and Fairfax, Virginia. Gyrodyne, LLC (through a wholly-owned subsidiary) is also a limited partner in Callery Judge Grove, L.P., the only assets of which consist of potential future payments upon the achievement of certain development benchmarks by the purchaser in the 2013 sale by the partnership of an undeveloped 3,700 plus acre property in Palm Beach County, Florida. Gyrodyne, LLC's common shares are traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol GYRO. Additional information about Gyrodyne, LLC may be found on its web site at www.gyrodyne.com
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