Bellco Health staying put, expanding in Amityville

Bellco Health has rejected help from Suffolk County to move... — Bellco Health has rejected help from Suffolk County to move to Melville and buy a Tribune Co.-owned building and opted instead for a Babylon incentive expected to yield savings on rent over 15 years. (Jan. 16, 2012) Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan

By JAMES T. MADOREjames.madore@newsday.comJanuary 16, 2012

Pharmaceuticals wholesaler Bellco Health will stay in North Amityville rather than move to Melville, officials said.

The company, a division of Pennsylvania-based AmerisourceBergen, plans to enlarge a 114,000-square-foot rented warehouse and offices at 5500 New Horizons Blvd. About 60,000 square feet of space will eventually be added, according to the Babylon Town industrial development agency.

In return for several million dollars in tax breaks, Bellco has promised to preserve its workforce of 125 people. Government records show the average salary is $65,600 per year.

"We have decided to remain at the Amityville facility and expand it in order to support the growth of our business in the New York metropolitan area," said AmerisourceBergen vice president Barbara Brungess.

In May, Bellco received an offer of assistance from the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency toward a $28-million relocation plan involving the purchase of a 186,148-square-foot building at 25 Deshon Dr. in Melville. That structure once housed Newsday's collating operation and is owned by Chicago-based publisher Tribune Co., which is in bankruptcy.

A Tribune spokesman declined to comment.

Asked why the relocation plan was scuttled, Brungess said, "We decided that the most compelling opportunity for our business was to remain at Amityville and expand and enhance the existing facility." She declined to provide project details.

Babylon IDA chief executive Robert Stricoff said Bellco's rent payments will fall because of a 15-year Payment In Lieu of Taxes agreement, or PILOT, for its landlord, Schuss Realty Associates. Stricoff estimated the savings at about $2.5 million.

There also will be a sales-tax break on the purchase of construction materials and new machinery.

"It's very important in a tough economy if you can keep jobs here, and that is what we're doing," Stricoff said.

Improvements to the warehouse are already under way. Landlord David J. Schuss said renovations are being made to offices, bathrooms and the fire sprinkler system. Schuss' father and uncles started Bellco in 1955, and in 2007 he and his brother sold out to AmerisourceBergen but kept ownership of the warehouse.

"It makes more sense for them to stay in the building and expand as needed," Schuss said. "They aren't going to end up with excess capacity."

Jim Morgo, chairman of the Suffolk IDA, agreed, saying, "It's always less disruptive and makes more financial sense to expand in place rather than go to a new building you aren't familiar with. But that isn't always possible for growing companies."