The New Rochelle Industrial Development Agency granted preliminary approval Dec. 22 for a self-storage building on property the city tried to take from the owner who had already lined up a self-storage project four years ago.
TAC New Rochelle LLC, an affiliate of Atlanta-based Montar Group, is seeking $590,000 in sales tax and mortgage tax exemptions, plus 10 years of property tax abatement in a deal that has yet to be publicly detailed, to build a $26.5 million self-storage facility at 54 Nardozzi Place.
The site was the home of Paul Spadaccini”™s Auto Sunroof of Larchmont. His attempts to sell the property were blocked in 2017 when the city declared its intention to use the site for a new public works facility.
“The city doesn”™t play by the rules,” Spadaccini said in a telephone interview. “We had the property sold. Then the city came in and wanted to take it. Then they kept me tied up in court for years.”
Auto Sunroof, a customization shop formed in 1985, had a prime location next to the New England Thruway (I-95) and across the street from a Home Depot and a Costco.
Spadaccini put the property on the market several years ago as he was downsizing the business and looking for a smaller location north of the city. By 2017, he had an offer for $6 million.
Then the city notified him that it wanted the property for a new public works facility.
The prospective buyer abandoned the project. Spadaccini said he offered the property to New Rochelle for $6 million, but the city was only willing to pay $2.3 million.
New Rochelle quickly switched focus to an adjacent property, 70 Nardozzi Place, and made a deal to help finance a new building and lease space for public works.
But the city still wanted Auto Sunroof for offices and a fueling station. In 2019, New Rochelle formally petitioned Westchester Supreme Court to condemn the property.
The city dropped the case in July. On Sept. 9, Spadaccini sold the site to TAC New Rochelle for $7 million.
TAC plans to demolish Auto Sunroof and build a 4-story, 129,000-square-foot self-storage facility and a 2-story, 12,000-square-foot storage space for the city. The city would lease the space for zero dollars for 49 years, according to TAC”™s IDA application, but a memorandum by Adam Salgado, IDA executive director, states that the city will pay a nominal cost for 49 years.
TAC wants to start work in March and finish by early 2022. The developer said the project would create 300 construction jobs and three full-time jobs when it opens.
There are no current jobs at the site, according to TAC”™s application, and the project will not result in the abandonment of a facility.
That”™s because Auto Sunroof closed in March a casualty of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The car business has gone very dead,” Spadaccini said, as the companies that manufactured the parts and supplies he needed have shut down. Auto Sunroof had 15 employees when it closed its doors.
The IDA has scheduled a Jan. 20 public hearing on TAC”™s proposal.
“I was lucky,” Spadaccini said. “I was in a position to fight them. It was a very costly thing and there was a lot of finagling going on in backrooms.”
But, “because of the virus and what happened to my industry,” he said, “$7 million was worth it.”
Why on earth would New Rochelle dole out sales/mortgage tax exemptions plus a 20 year tax abatement?
If commercial real estate are getting these big tax breaks. why aren’t homeowners getting the same tax breaks?
This project is of NO benefit to New Rochelle so i dont know why residents would support a multi million dollar tax give away.