2 firms making MRI and Navy gear to share Hauppauge factory after $1.8M upgrade

Two manufacturers of components for medical imaging and defense equipment hope to win larger contracts by moving to the same Hauppauge building.

CPC Operations LLC makes amplifiers from parts supplied by IPP Operations LLC. The amplifiers are found in large MRI machines at universities and health care institutions as well as U.S. Navy equipment used to jam communications.

"We go after biological adversaries, such as cancer, and military adversaries," CPC president and founder Dan Myer said on Tuesday. "We're doing the most powerful MRI scanners in the world right now."

He said CPC and IPP currently occupy two buildings in Hauppauge and Holbrook, which together total 24,000 square feet. The companies want to rent 45,000 square feet at 90 Davids Dr., which is adjacent to CPC’s headquarters in Hauppauge.

In order to grow the companies need more space, said Catherine Myer, chief financial officer at CPC and Dan's wife. 

"If we wanted to hire another person, we couldn’t. There’s nowhere to put them," she told a meeting of the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency last week.

CPC and IPP are both part of Communication Power Companies LLC. The latter in turn is owned by the private equity firm Addison Capital Partners in West Palm Beach, Florida, said Daniel P. Deegan, the companies’ real estate attorney.

CPC and IPP plan to spend $1.8 million on renovations to 90 Davids Dr., including the conversion of 29,000 square feet of warehouse space to manufacturing and product testing. The companies expect to move into the facility later this year, according to an application for IDA assistance.

The building was home to a data center for the news wire service Thomson Reuters until 2020. A year later, the property was purchased by warehouse developer Link Logistics Real Estate.

Last week, the Suffolk IDA board voted unanimously to grant CPC and IPP a tax-break package of $444,778, including $376,720 off property taxes over 10 years, or a savings of 27.5%.

In return for the aid, the companies promised to add eight jobs to their combined workforce of 79 people. Most of the new positions will pay $50,000 per year, on average, according to the IDA application.

Deegan, the attorney, said CPC and IPP plan "to grow even more" than the eight promised jobs.

The IDA vote paves the way for signing a 12-year lease, he said.

The building’s design, which includes a lobby atrium, will impress potential customers compared with the companies' present cramped quarters. "The space they are using now is antiquated and doesn’t meet their needs," Deegan said.

CPC, which opened in 1994, has won more than $500,000 in Navy contracts since 2012, including $359,000 in 2018 for a band transmitter, records show.

Kelly Murphy, the IDA’s CEO and executive director, told Newsday last week that CPC and IPP offer the type of "high-quality manufacturing jobs that we want to retain in Suffolk County. They’re also incredibly innovative and continue to create new products."

By James T. Madore

james.madore@newsday.comJamesTMadore

James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.