Airbnb says Nassau, Suffolk hosts made $47M in 2018
According to numbers released by Airbnb, the company has about 3,600 hosts registered in Suffolk County and a comparatively lower 560 registered hosts in Nassau County, Newsday reported. Between May 25 and Sept. 3, 2018, the service had 81,700 guest arrivals across Long Island. All told, those visitors earned their hosts about $47 million, according Long Island Business News. That sum represents a 38 percent increase over the same period in 2017. Airbnb is still in talks about the collection of hotel taxes with officials in Nassau and Suffolk counties. In 2018, Suffolk Comptroller John Kennedy got about 1,000 hosts to pay the county’s 3 percent occupancy tax. A federal judge recently blocked a New York City law designed to crack down on Airbnb and other short-term rental sites. [LIBN]
Stop & Shop buys King Kullen grocery chain
Bethpage-based supermarket chain King Kullen has been bought by Stop & Shop for an undisclosed sum, according to Newsday. The deal should close in the first quarter of this year. Quincy, Massachusetts-based Stop & Shop, which is a unit of Dutch food retail giant Ahold Delhaize, will assume control of King Kullen’s 32 supermarkets along with five Wild by Nature natural food stores. Stop & Shop will also acquire King Kullen’s Bethpage corporate headquarters. King Kullen had shuttered five stores between 2015 and 2017, though it did open one new locale in North Patchogue in 2015. The sale of King Kullen last week came at the same time that Lidl US, the American arm of Germany’s Lidl grocery chain, closed on its purchase of Bethpage-based Best Market, which runs 24 stores throughout Long Island. [Newsday]
Revised Nassau property values posted as GOP pushes later grievance deadline
The administration of Nassau County Executive Laura Curran published online new assessment values for the county’s more than 424,000 residential and commercial properties, Newsday reported. The move occurred as Republican legislators moved to delay the deadline for filing grievances to April 30. Notices about the reassessed values should reach every property owner by the end of January. Officials said the new values will help create a better tax roll that Nassau can use in court to defend itself against tax challenges. The county has already borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for successful tax challenges. Republican legislators blasted the county’s Democratic leadership, saying that late and incorrect notices to homewners, confusion on how officials reached the new values and generally poor communication had angered many property owners. Nassau Republicans hope their proposed legislation will give property owners more time to dispute assessment values. [Newsday]
Douglas Elliman CEO calls $40M stake sale “hardest decision” of her life
Dottie Herman, CEO of Douglas Elliman, sold her 29.41 percent minority stake in the storied brokerage firm to current chairman Howard Lorber’s Vector group for $40 million. Herman told TRD that selling her interest in Elliman, which has more than 30 offices across Long Island and is the largest brokerage in New York City, was the “hardest decision” in her life. “I love Douglas Elliman,” Herman said. “It was just time to get some of my money out. Now I can just have a little more security.” Herman will retain her role on Elliman’s management team. Vector already owns 70.59 percent of the brokerage, which using back-of-the-envelope math would be valued at roughly $136 million following the sale of Herman’s interest in the firm. Vector has already paid $10 million to Herman and will pay her another $30 million in 12 equal installments through late 2022. Herman will get interest on those payments. [TRD]
Developer wants Riverhead zoning change to build hospital housing
Joseph Manzi, a developer from the Suffolk County hamlet of Rocky Point, wants the Riverhead Town Board to change the zoning of 26 acres in the town so that he can build 34 units of workforce housing for the employees of a nearby hospital, Newsday reported. Staff at the Peconic Bay Medical Center have approached Manzi to build the housing to accommodate for a planned expansion of the facility. But Manzi’s lawyer, Steven Losquadro, said the property’s zoning rules do not allow for such construction. Losquadro said his client would build the units without dramatically increasing density and keep those units “much more affordable.” Some Riverhead officials were open to the proposal, but others are worried that it could increase congestion in the area. [Newsday]