PRESS RELEASE: Development team for mall at Cerro Wire site hails court decision

Released: 01/01/02

From: The Mall at Oyster Bay
201 North Service Road
Melville, New York 11747
631 549-2000 / Morton Weber
for immediate release

Development team for mall at Cerro Wire site hails court decision

Rule of law in Oyster Bay Town reaffirmed, setting the stage for construction

Morton Weber and Associates, the attorneys representing The Taubman Company, and its affiliate Oyster Bay Associates Limited Partnership, which seeks to create an upscale retail mall on the old Cerro Wire site in Syosset, are calling the decision by State Supreme Court Justice James Catterson, annulling the zoning actions of the Oyster Bay Town Board, "a strategic decision that not only moves this project forward but reestablishes the rule of law governing land use decisions in this community."

"We were compelled to file this lawsuit because the Town Board ignored its own zoning laws which clearly provided that our client's project is an appropriate and permitted use on this long dormant 39 acre industrial property," stated John Harras of Morton Weber & Associates. "By annulling the Town Board's decision the Court reasserted the rule of law and, in doing so, set the stage for economic growth, new investment and the elimination of a rusting symbol of industrial decay."

The lawsuit had charged that the Town Board acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner when denying an 860,000 square foot retail mall for the industrial property located alongside the Long Island Expressway.

"Given the substantial economic benefits of this project for the region, and the fact that the project is substantially less intensive than other unconditionally permitted uses for the property, such as a 1.4 million square-foot office complex, the Town Board's decision was as inexplicable as it was unjustified," continued Mr. Harras. "The Court's decision affirms that position."

An industrial relic bordered by tracks and trucks

Once a productive workplace for 600 people and the source of significant revenues for the Town of Oyster Bay and Nassau County, the project site was vacated by the Cerro Wire Company in 1986. The industrial buildings on the site have stood unused for 15 years and contribute nothing in terms of taxes, investment revenue, job creation or the enhancement of surrounding property values.

Neiman Marcus and Lord & Taylor have already committed to anchor the developer's Mall at Oyster Bay. The property is abutted by two highway depots, a landfill, an industrial park, the Long Island Expressway and the Port Jefferson line of the Long Island Railroad.

When built it is expected that its $280 million dollar development cost will generate in exess of 2,200 direct construction jobs, 1,900 permanent jobs, $7.3 million in annual property taxes and $22.5 million in sales taxes. That revenue alone would make a substantive difference in how Nassau County and Oyster Bay will balance the budgets.