IDA benefits extended for Garden City retail center

The Town of Hempstead Industrial Development Agency has approved a five-year extension of tax breaks for the Gallery at Westbury Plaza shopping center. 

Located at 900 Old Country Road in Garden City, the center was constructed in 2011 with the help of economic incentives from the IDA, which had then agreed to provide a five-year extension of benefits that would end in 2027. 

The center’s owner is Jacksonville, Fla.-based real estate investment trust Regency Centers, which acquired the 312,242-square-foot shopping center from original developer Equity One in 2017. 

The initial payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement was approved at a time when IDAs were permitted to incentivize retail projects, which has since been prohibited by the state. 

As of the end of last year, there were 468 workers employed at the center, compared with promised employment of 375, according to the IDA’s annual report. Major tenants at the shopping center include The Container Store, Homegoods, Nordstrom Rack, Bloomingdale’s, Gap Outlet, Banana Republic, Saks Off Fifth, Trader joe’s, Bassett Home Furnishings, J. Crew and Old Navy. 

“They’re doing good,” Fred Parola, CEO of the Hempstead IDA, said in a written statement. Maintaining pledged employment was the one requirement that Regency had to meet to gain the extension. “They not only met it, but exceeded it,” he said. 

Regency Centers had full or partial ownership interests in 405 U.S. properties totaling about 51.2 million square feet as of the end of last year. On Long Island, the REIT’s portfolio includes Westbury Plaza, The Point at Garden City Park, Lake Grove Commons, Hewlett Crossing and four centers acquired last year from Serota Properties: Stew Leonard’s Plaza in East Meadow, the King Kullen shopping center in Eastport, a King Kullen-anchored center in Valley Stream, and the King Kullen-anchored Wading River Commons.