Canon commits, but not without Riverhead's help
Town playing big role in bringing HQ to Suffolk
4 comments below
The proposed Canon Inc. headquarters to be built in Melville.
And if it happens, Riverhead will have played no small part.
The Town Board is poised to approve legislation authorizing the transfer of 20 tax-friendly Empire Zone acres from Calverton to Huntington Town as part of the massive effort to keep the electronics giant from leaving the state.
Proposed Canon Inc. headquarters to be built in Melville. The Canon USA company says as many as 2,200 people may come to work in the projected 700,000-square foot building near the Long Island Expressway.
"Riverhead played a substantial and significant role in ensuring the relocation of Canon's corporate headquarters to Suffolk County," chief deputy Suffolk County executive Chris Kent said this week. "The entire region should be grateful for Riverhead's response in a time of need to make that relocation a reality."
He said the company last week officially committed to building in Melville, given that the deal goes through.
"We have the power, but it wouldn't be right to stand in the way of this," Mr. Cardinale said. "What is right is for us to seek responsible cooperation from the County of Suffolk regarding certain matters that we have contacted them for help on."
Such matters also include getting the county to stop sending most of its homeless sex offenders to a shelter outside the county jail in Riverside.
But no matter how the September meeting with Mr. Kent goes, the supervisor said the Town Board would never "say no and foil the efforts of a major economic movement and stimulus to Suffolk County."
Councilwoman Barbara Blass said she also favors helping Canon build near the Long Island Expressway.
"Of course, Riverhead stands ready to assist Canon in its efforts to locate its headquarters in Suffolk County," she said. "The proposed project represents efficient regional growth by locating a LEED-certified office building along a major transportation route. Cooperative efforts which boost area employment as well as increase tax revenues are good public policy."
She also reiterated Mr. Cardinale's stance, shared by others on the Town Board, that the good will should be returned in kind by the county.
"Riverhead expects nothing less than similar cooperation on some of its local projects from other agencies and municipalities," she said.
Canon's current headquarters encompasses three buildings in Lake Success, where it employs about 1,100 people. The company wants to consolidate into one building to serve as the base of its operations in North America. Canon, whose representatives could not be reached for comment for this report, had been looking for better deals outside the state.
In an effort to keep the group in the area, Suffolk officials last year offered a benefits package based on a provision of the Empire Zone that permits regionally significant projects not in an Empire Zone to receive credits. However, since only about 200 of the 1,000 new jobs proposed for the Canon project were categorized as high-tech, the amount of benefits were far less than Canon had hoped for.
Since there is no mapped Empire Zone at the Melville site, and since state law prohibits the expansion of the existing Empire Zone, the acreage had to be subtracted from Riverhead Town, which in 1998 applied for and received 1,280 Empire Zone acres from the state.
Coupled with the Empire Zone advantages, Canon could see upwards of $100 million in tax incentives in a deal that has been brokered in part by Gov. David Paterson and pushed along by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Mr. Cardinale noted that due to environmental constraints at the Calverton site, the town would likely not even have needed the 20 Empire Zone acres it now plans to move to Melville.
mwhite@timesreview.com
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4 comments found
: 8/28/2009
Riverhead Cant even build a building in its own town, but they can certainly help another already flurishing town. Smart.
CanonUSA : 8/27/2009
BUILD IT ALREADY!!!!
Canon Committs : 8/27/2009
-and no public transportation to get to where the high paying jobs are.
Riverhead's Help : 8/27/2009
Gee. Isn't that nice of this town. Helping another area of the island for high tech jobs. Hey! What about us out here? Oh yeah, I forgot we have low paying retail jobs out here.
