Hain Celestial repays $1.3M in tax breaks to Nassau after exiting headquarters

The Hain Celestial Group Inc. has repaid nearly $1.3 million in tax breaks received since 2012 for its now-closed headquarters building in Lake Success, Nassau County officials said.

The organic and natural products manufacturer had to repay the tax incentives because it broke a 16-year agreement with the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency by exiting 1111 Marcus Ave. early. The company vacated the Lake Success building in March instead of in 2030.

“Hain is opting to terminate [the agreement] prior to the termination date,” Kristy M. Meringolo, the company’s chief legal and corporate affairs officer, wrote in a March 2 letter to the IDA  obtained by Newsday under the Freedom of Information Law.

Hain did not respond to Newsday's request for comment Thursday.

In 2012, the IDA, under then-County Executive Edward Mangano, persuaded Hain to move its corporate office from Melville in Suffolk County to Lake Success, instead of out of New York State. Mangano competed with then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in wooing Hain's then-CEO Irwin Simon.

The 86,104-square-foot building appealed to Simon because it served as the first headquarters of the United Nations in the mid-1940s,  and Hain was expanding internationally, Simon told Newsday in 2012.

The IDA aid package, in return for Hain's promise to create jobs, consisted of a sales-tax exemption of up to $850,000 on the purchase of construction materials, equipment and furnishings, plus a 16-year freeze on the property taxes.

The IDA recaptured from Hain $435,327 in property-tax savings from 2017 through this year and $862,500 in sales-tax exemption in 2012-13, according to an April 5 letter to the company from then-IDA Chairman Richard Kessel, also obtained through FOIL.

Hain “has moved out of its current location and is looking for new office space,” Sheldon L. Shrenkel, the IDA’s CEO and executive director, told Newsday. “We have received a payment of nearly $1.3 million from the company in recaptured benefits as a result of their move.”

He continued, “The Nassau County IDA has met with Hain Celestial Group representatives and strongly encouraged them to remain in Nassau County.”

The company employed 239 people in Lake Success as of Dec. 31, 2021, according to the most recent state records.

On March 31, Hain told Newsday that it left the Lake Success building because it was seeking a smaller space.

“With the shift to hybrid work over the past three years, our current space was too large and we decided to explore a HQ space that is right-sized for our needs,” the company said.

Employees are working remotely or at other Hain sites until a new headquarters is selected, the company said.

— with Tory N. Parrish

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.