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Gov. Kathy Hochel and county and town officials sunk shovels into the ground Wednesday to ceremoniously kick off the second phase of the Ronkonkoma Hub development.
The Ronkonkoma Hub will see 1,450 new apartments, 360,000 square feet of office space, and 195,000 square feet of new retail space built south of the Long Island Expressway — within walking distance of the LIRR’s Ronkonkoma Train Station.
Phase 2A of the project will give rise to five buildings that will house 388 new apartments, 73,000 square feet of retail space and 15,500 square feet of office space. The space will be supplemented by two parking structures — one underground and one above ground — for a combined 1,200 new parking spaces.
“The entire phase 2A is going to be completed in 2024, with the first buildings opening up in late 2023,” said Christopher Kelly, the vice president of marketing for the project’s master developer Tritec. “We’ll begin pre-leasing probably in the fall of 2023.”
Kelly said phase 2A includes “the main central plaza portion of the project,” and 2B will round out the public square. He added that multiple phases of the project are yet to be announced and noted that the expected cost of the project is $750 million.
Tritec became the master developer for the project in 2011; construction began on the first phase of the project in 2017. In March 2020, four vacant industrial buildings on the site became 489 luxury apartments, 92% of which are now occupied, according to Kelly.
‘The front door to Suffolk County’
Multiple elected officials, including the governor, said the development in Ronkonkoma, a transportation hub that features the busy Ronkonkoma Train Station and Islip’s MacArthur Airport, is a vital investment in New York state.
“The Ronkonkoma Hub will be a major leap forward in building New York’s economy and revitalizing the future of Long Island,” Hochul said in a statement. “This next phase of the Ronkonkoma Hub furthers our commitment to investing in transformative developments to bring residential and commercial spaces to Long Island.”
For Suffolk County, the Ronkonkoma Hub is one of many large scale mixed-use developments expected to provide residences for younger generations.
“Transit-oriented developments, such as the Ronkonkoma Hub, are exactly what we need here in Suffolk County to help retain and attract young people and remain competitive as a region,” Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone said. “This project continues to move full steam ahead, transforming a blighted area into a vibrant, pedestrian friendly hub that will serve as a 21st century model for the type of economic development projects that we need to continue to grow our economy in a sustainable way.”
Kelly said the project will be an “economic driver,” creating more than 10,000 construction jobs and 2,500 permanent jobs.
“We look forward to bringing that economic engine to what in large part is the front door to Suffolk County,” he said.
