Glen Cove transfers waterfront parcel slated for development

The Glen Cove City Council voted Tuesday night to transfer a waterfront parcel to the city's industrial development agency, one of the key last steps before the area's $1 billion redevelopment breaks ground.

The 2.1-acre plot is part of the waterfront property the Glen Cove IDA plans to sell to developer RXR Glen Isle Partners LLC.

"That's the last remaining parcel that hasn't been transferred to the IDA," Mayor Reginald Spinello said during the meeting.

Afterward, he said the transfer was "a good marker for us, that [we're] moving the waterfront project forward."

"It's another step toward the goal of putting a shovel in the ground," the mayor said.

Developer Scott Rechler, president and chief executive of RXR Realty LLC, said last year that the project is expected to break ground in 2014.

The developer plans to build 860 residential units, a 250-room hotel, 25,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, and 50,000 square feet of office space. The 52-acre project also includes 19 acres of publicly accessible space.

Spinello said the city is trying to secure a $3 million grant to finish roadwork on the site.

Spinello said he has talked to Rechler about lower density and more recreational space. "He's open to see if there are other alternatives. . . . He's going to do whatever is right for the city. I have complete faith in him."

The contract for the sale of land was agreed upon in 2003 but has been amended several times. "This has been part of the land disposition agreement, but it's just getting done now," Spinello said in an interview before the meeting.

The transferred parcel comprises three lots. Part of that parcel will be returned to the city for a boat ramp and a road the city will maintain. The city will receive $250,000 for the parcel when the IDA sells it to the developer, Spinello said.

Some of the water-front land has been undergoing a lengthy remediation to clean up industrial contamination. Last year, ferries launched from a new slip in what planners and officials envision will be a regular service.The resolution to transfer the land included a provision to extinguish $1 million of tax liens that were held against more than a dozen lots on Garvies Point and Herb Hill roads and Dickson Lane.

Those liens included $337,624 from the city and $691,962 from the school district.Spinello said city officials never expected to collect on the liens and that the companies against which they were placed no longer exist.

"They're old liens that the city has had for years," Spinello said in an earlier interview. He added, "although they keep accumulating, there's no value to them, you couldn't collect on them."The extinguishing of the liens was required under the development agreement, so the land could be sold unencumbered to the developer.