Summerwind, a 53-unit rental and retail complex proposed for Peconic Avenue, is also seeking the same 10-year property tax abatement.
The two projects could receive exemptions on mortgage recording tax and on sales tax on materials used in construction of the projects.
Atlantis has received a 100 percent property tax abatement on town, county, school and fire district taxes for 10 years under an agreement the town Industrial Development Agency made more than 10 years ago when the town was trying to lure Atlantis to downtown Riverhead.
The standard IDA property tax exemption for a nonindustrial project would start at 50 percent and decrease by five percent a year for 10 years, but Atlantis qualified for the full exemption because it is located in an economically distressed area, officials said.
That abatement expires at the end of this year, and Atlantis appeared before the IDA Monday seeking to extend those same abatements another decade.
Atlantis co-owner Jim Bissett said that while his attraction has been a success, the failure of the rest of downtown Riverhead to blossom has made it difficult for Atlantis to draw visitors. Mr. Bissett said he believes the hotel, which would include about 30,000 square feet of new exhibit space, conference space and a banquet center, will help bring more people to the rest of downtown.
"The original studies said we'd draw 600,000 to 900,000 people a year," he said. "We have not hit half of that yet."
Joe Petrocelli, another co-owner of the aquarium, said that while they originally envisioned the aquarium drawing people to downtown, "it became obvious that our guests came to our aquarium and then they went home."
Atlantis general manager Bryan DeLuca said the reason aquariums in places like Baltimore and Mystic, Conn., draw more than a million people per year is because they've created a destination for their downtowns, and visitors can go to other places after they visit the aquarium.
Mr. Bissett and Mr. Petrocelli said that the vacancy rate in downtown was about 30 percent when they opened the aquarium in 2000 and now hovers at 70 percent. They said that as the vacancies grew, it became harder and harder to draw people to the aquarium.
"This is a concern for us and a concern for the people financing this project," Mr. Bissett said. "We need the assistance of this board."
He said the prior exemptions allowed Atlantis to expand every year.
Atlantis still pays taxes to the sewer, parking, lighting, ambulance and business improvement taxing districts, and their tax bill this year came to $125,895, according to town records. Without the IDA exemption, the full tax bill on the aquarium would have been $502,594, according to tax receiver Maryann Heilbrunn.
However, Atlantis also makes a payment in lieu of taxes to the IDA based on the value of what was there before they built the hotel. That payment is around $30,000 per year and gets distributed to the town, county and school district.
Councilman Jim Wooten, the only speaker expressing an opinion on the proposed exemptions at Monday's hearing, said he would "give Jim Bissett the shirt off my back," but cautioned, "there has to come a time when abatements have to be weighed against public benefit."
Summerwind is also seeking a 10-year property tax abatement on town, school, county and fire district taxes, and like Atlantis, representatives claim in their application that "the project is considered to be extremely significant and vital to the economic health and well being of the Town of Riverhead, Suffolk County and the Long Island Region."
Summerwind, which would include affordable or "workforce" apartments on its top three floors and retail stores and restaurant on the ground floor, would also be located in what is considered an economically distressed area. And as such, it could qualify for the greater exemptions.
Developer Ray Dickhoff, who along with Marty Sendlewski and Riverhead Councilwoman-elect Jodi Giglio, is the applicant on Summerwind, said that several dormant and decaying buildings will be razed in order to build a four-story building
"The goal is to revitalize Main Street by providing affordable living space" and "adding much needed foot traffic," Mr. Dickhoff said.
tgannon@timesreview.com