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Radienz Living LLC now has one factory on Long Island,...

Radienz Living LLC now has one factory on Long Island, at 360 Moreland Rd. in Commack. Credit: Newsday/James T. Madore

A Commack landlord has repaid nearly $119,500 in tax breaks to Suffolk County because its tenant employs less than half the 636 people it had promised in return for the county’s help. 

The tenant, Radienz Living LLC, and its parent company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation two years ago after defaulting on a $287.5 million loan.

Radienz is the successor to U.S. Nonwovens Corp., a family-owned maker of sanitary wipes and other cleaning products once based in Brentwood. Nonwovens had 1,000 employees at five factories, warehouses and an office, all in Suffolk, as recently as 2013, plus major operations in Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Mexico.

Nonwovens produced baby wipes, acne and hemorrhoid treatments, cosmetics, detergents, sponges and adult incontinence remedies for consumer goods giants such as Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Unilever, and for Walmart and other retail chains.

Some of the products were sold under the brand names Ajax Laundry, Fab, Dynamo, Final Touch and Bloom Baby, Newsday has reported.

Nonwovens was purchased in 2019 for an undisclosed amount by Wind Point Partners, a private equity firm in Chicago. The local company was then combined with a maker of dishwashing products to form Radienz, Newsday has reported.

Radienz flourished in 2020 to 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when demand was high for disinfectant wipes, but has since struggled. The company reported revenue of $180 million in 2022 compared with more than $226 million in 2021, according bankruptcy court filings.

“A combination of business falloff and the sale of the business by the principals of U.S. Nonwovens led to changes by the new people to move employees out,” said Daniel J. Baker, an attorney for the Commack landlord, Moreland Road LLC.

He told the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency's board at its May meeting that Radienz has one remaining plant on Long Island, at 360 Moreland Rd. in Commack.

The other factories — at 100, 105 and 110 Emjay Blvd. in Brentwood and 100 Wireless Blvd. in Hauppauge — have shut down, along with an office at 445 Broad Hollow Rd. in Melville.

The closures made it impossible for Radienz to keep the job commitment that Nonwovens gave in 2013 in return for nearly $2 million in IDA tax breaks over 12 to 15 years. At the time, Nonwovens' owner, who is now Radienz's landlord, applied for the tax incentives to expand in Suffolk instead of out of state. 

In December, the IDA clawed back from the landlord 75% of the tax aid received for one of the Emjay Boulevard properties over six years, or $119,471, according to agency records.

Last month, the IDA cut the remaining tax incentives on the Moreland Road factory from eight years to five, or a reduction of $50,299. The agency also lowered the employment commitment from 636 jobs to 250, the records show.

Radienz has “the stability that should work for the rest of the [tax breaks’] period of five years,” said Baker, the attorney.

Kelly Murphy, the IDA's CEO and executive director, told Newsday the landlord would potentially face a second claw back of tax breaks if Radienz's employment level falls.

"He may have sold his business, but he still has the obligation," she said.

The landlord’s spokesperson, who declined to be named, said, “Radienz pays rent to us on time. I believe they will be able to meet the new job commitment.”

Radienz "will employ at least 250 people at the Moreland Road site for the next five years," Ken Chmela, the company's vice president of personal care operations, told Newsday on Wednesday in an email.

Radienz has a second factory in Mount Prospect, Illinois, north of Chicago. The company is now owned by SPS LLC, which also is based in Mount Prospect, according to bankruptcy filings.

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