Suffolk IDA approves tax-break transfer as Long Island redevelopment building hits market

A Huntington Station building that helped set the pace for downtown revival is being sold for $9 million, with Suffolk County’s Industrial Development Agency approving the transfer of its tax breaks to the buyer. The deal puts The Northridge, a mixed-use building at the corner of New York Avenue and Northridge Street, back at the center of the same redevelopment effort it helped launch.

Blue & Gold Holdings opened The Northridge in 2018 with 16 apartments above about 6,500 square feet of retail space. Suffolk IDA materials described Blue & Gold as the first developer to build housing in the ongoing revitalization around the Huntington train station, a distinction that made the project a visible marker for what public incentives were meant to unlock in Huntington Station.

Now the building is changing hands. The transfer of the tax breaks means the incentives that helped support the original project will follow the property to the next owner, rather than end with the sale. In practice, that keeps the IDA tied to the building even as the developer exits, and it turns the transaction into a measure of whether the first round of public support produced an asset durable enough to attract a new investor.

That question matters in Huntington Station, where the revitalization push is still moving. The Town of Huntington said the hamlet received a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award, and state officials said in 2024 that six Huntington Station projects were selected under that funding round. The state plan centered on more housing, public gathering spaces and better pedestrian connectivity along New York Avenue south of the Huntington Long Island Rail Road station.

Blue & Gold’s own pipeline shows how The Northridge fit into a larger bet on the corridor. The company later advanced Northridge Square, a 20,337-square-foot mixed-use project with 16 one-bedroom apartments and commercial space, including three below-market units in earlier application materials. In 2021, the Suffolk IDA initially discussed about $760,400 in tax breaks over 15 years for that project.

For downtown Huntington Station, the $9 million listing says as much about the market as it does about the building. The first phase of the revival has matured into a saleable property, but the real test is whether the next owner can keep the apartments filled, the retail space active and the public investment working in step with the wider plan for New York Avenue.