Gabreski Airport project signs 3 new tenants

Three companies have signed on to rent the first building completed in a planned corporate park at Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton, developers said Wednesday.

Tate's Bake Shop, the Southampton cookie company, is the latest business to lease space in the Hampton Business District, which Plainview-based development firm Rechler Equity Partners has been constructing since last year on 50 acres of Suffolk County-owned land.

Rechler has completed a 60,000-square-foot warehouse, distribution and office building. Nine buildings in total are planned for the park, including a 145-room hotel, making it one of the largest business parks on eastern Long Island.

Tate's joins Smithtown-based AC Lighting & Electrical Supplies and the national heating, ventilation and air-conditioning company Carrier Enterprise, which already operate at the building, Rechler officials said in a release. The structure is now 85 percent full, they said.

"The Hampton Business District is attracting top-tier companies like Tate's that want new construction, state-of-the-art design and a location that's ideal for servicing the East End as well as points west," Rechler managing partner Mitchell Rechler said in the news release.

Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone last year hailed the park as a source of year-round jobs that would help diversify the East End economy beyond tourism.

"Before construction of the Hampton Business District, Tate's was not able to find state-of-the-art space in Southampton large enough to meet its needs," Throne-Holst said in the release yesterday. "This is exactly what we anticipated with the Hampton Business District -- that it would create jobs and promote economic development."

Tate's will continue to operate its East Moriches wholesale location, chief executive Maura Mottolese said in the release.