Garden City hotel plan gets tax break OK from Nassau IDA

The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency has approved tax incentives for a Garden City hotel near the Roosevelt Field mall.

The Residence Inn by Marriott is to be a 163-room hotel on Ring Road, according to IDA documents.

Currently, the site is vacant. Construction is to begin later this year for an opening in late 2018 or early 2019, said Dan Deegan, a Uniondale attorney who represents the developer, OTO Development LLC.

The $28.5 million project is expected to bring 75 to 100 temporary construction jobs to the area, as well as 35 permanent full-time jobs, IDA documents show.

IDA officials unanimously voted on Sept. 27 to grant the South Carolina-based developer a 20-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, known as a PILOT, as well as a sales tax abatement and a mortgage-recording tax exemption, officials said.

The PILOT begins at the current taxes, $191,036, and increases each year through the life of the agreement, IDA documents show.

If the IDA had not granted the tax incentives, the developer “would not proceed with the project,” according to its application.

SEE PHOTOSAverage weekly wages: $1,535 in Texas, $1,349 in Suffolk

In general, developers of new construction in Nassau County need to phase in taxes with PILOT agreements, Deegan said.

“Without it, nothing gets built,” he said.

IDA executive director Joseph J. Kearney said the hotel will provide incentives and amenities for guests to use the mall’s facilities and shops. He said the project will add a structure to what’s now a vacant space to generate “significant income” in the future.

“The business community in that area is clamoring” for hotels, Kearney said. “This will only help the viability of Roosevelt Field.”