Rail freight options explored at EPCAL

The company planning to redevelop the Enterprise Park at Calverton is exploring ways to enhance the use of rail freight at the sprawling commercial site. 

Calverton Aviation Technology, headed by Triple Five Group, has sent a letter to the leadership of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and executives of New York & Atlantic Railway, the operator of all rail freight on the Long Island Rail Road, to help envision the best ways to utilize the property’s existing rail infrastructure. 

“Exploring how best to make use of the existing rail infrastructure would create considerable environmental and economic benefits for the Town of Riverhead,” Triple Five CAT principal Justin Ghermezian, wrote in the letter. “It would enhance the viability for a return of manufacturing to the Calverton property, where goods and services would arrive and depart by train rather than trucks. The benefits would be obvious, immediate, and underscore the strategic location of the Calverton property as one capable of leveraging rail to strengthen the economy of the East End.” 

The developer is planning to build a new corporate park on about 600 acres of the EPCAL property, where Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Navy once tested F14s and other military aircraft. CAT is in contract to buy 1,644 acres at EPCAL for $40 million from the Town of Riverhead, a sale that is targeted to close by the end of the third quarter. 

Ghermezian wrote that “the beneficial role of freight rail on Long Island is already obvious in Yaphank, where a private rail yard serves the region and brings in a broad range of commodities and construction materials. The LIRR’s recently completed Second and Third Tracks modernization program brings further options for rail scheduling to our Calverton site.” 

The company seeks to explore how rail improvements on the property could leverage the existing infrastructure even further, offering opportunities for the business community to move products and goods on and off Long Island by firms that will make their home at the development to be known as the Calverton Innovation Hub. 

John Gleeson, director of Sales and Marketing for New York and Atlantic Railway, said his firm welcomes the opportunity to explore the best future role for rail to serve the Calverton property.  

“Both entities already recognize that every day our system helps reduce heavy truck traffic coming onto and off Long Island with the obvious benefits of reduced air and noise pollution, wear and tear on our highways, and the ability to be a cost-effective transportation alternative,” Gleeson said. 

Ghermezian is already in discussions with Andrew Kaufman, who has served as president of Brookhaven Rail Terminal, the Yaphank rail complex that has moved thousands of tons of freight by rail, eliminating the need for hundreds of truck trips. 

“There is little doubt that the existing rail infrastructure here could be strengthened and improved, enabling CAT to create a strategic transportation alternative for the property’s tenants,” said Kaufman, who recently toured the Calverton property with Ghermezian. “Our experience at BRT has demonstrated the power of rail. Opening Calverton to rail will quickly accelerate its ability to be an economic powerhouse for the Town of Riverhead.” 

The EPCAL property is zoned to accommodate 9.8 million square feet of development and the purchase agreement with the town calls for CAT to build a minimum of 1 million square feet of development at EPCAL within the first five years. 

David Pennetta, executive managing director of Cushman & Wakefield, who helped broker the Calverton property sale, says this is an unprecedented time on Long Island for the industrial property market. He points out that the industrial vacancy rate here was at a historically low 3.2 percent at the end of the first quarter and that Suffolk County has seen 90 percent of this year’s new industrial leases. 

“Calverton will become a center point for commerce, reaching 25 miles west to Hauppauge and 25 miles east to the recently year-round Greenport and the Hamptons,” Pennetta said. “Rail has always been important to Calverton and businesses have enjoyed direct access to supply goods and services to Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. Tying the benefits of the rail together with sewer, airstrip, and east-central location, we will be reading of success after success at this planned business park.” 

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