Fabricade moving into ‘showcase’ HQ

As Seen in Long Island Business News – STRUCTURES MAY 2, 2003 By NICK ANASTASI

HOLBROOK – A unique piece of property encourages the design of a unique building. And in the case of the new Fabricade building, the parcel indeed dictated the design of the facility.

The 4.1 acres of land on Veterans Memorial Highway just north of its intersection with Broadway is triangular in shape, with the property diminishing in size as it recedes from the roadway.

As a result, the 52,000-square-foot Fabricade building has a broad front, noted Phil Monastero, principal with Baldassano Architectural Group, which designed the site.

He said a creative mix of colors and construction materials were used to break up the long frontal expanse.

Fabricade makes pre-made fabrics and millinery items, and demand for its products spurred the move. It plans to more than double the size of its current operation when it relocates this month to the new $4 million headquarters building. It will be leasing from Krupnick & Partners LLC.

At present, Fabricade operates from 23,000 square feet of space it leases at 80 Orville Drive in Bohemia, which is owned by Reckson Associates Realty Corp.

Fabricade President Larry Gould said his firm has a worldwide client base that includes retail and hotel chains and cruise lines. He said the company would be relocating its 40 employees to the new site by the end of this month.

When asked how he felt about how the new building turned out, he pulled no punches: “What can I tell you is it’s the showcase of Suffolk County,” he said of the new location that will feature a showroom that will be open to the trades.

Melville-based WestRac Contracting built the project, which was financed by Independence Bank through a package arranged by Gallagher & Associates.

“It’s a great location,” said Ashlind Properties’ Richard Cohen, president of Ashlind Properties and broker of the lease transaction. “It’s highly visible and close to its current operation.”

Gary Krupnick, principal with both WestRac and Krupnick & Partners, said Fabricade has signed a 12-year lease for the site.

He said there were several hurdles that had to be cleared in the development of the property, not the least of which was the excavation of the site.

“It was used as a concrete dumping site from the development of Sunrise Highway,” he said. “We had to have a concrete crushing operation on site for weeks before development could begin.”

The Fabricade project was approved for an economic incentive package from the Town of Islip’s Industrial Development Agency. It included exemptions from mortgage recording, sales and real property tax abatements valued at $4 million.

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