Hicksville Self-Storage Facility Gets $1.6M in Tax Breaks

Nassau County taxpayers are on the hook for $1.6 million in tax breaks handed to a proposed self-storage warehouse in Hicksville, after the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency voted 5-0 to approve the deal on March 12.

The project belongs to Vault Equities, a Huntington-based development firm planning a three-story, 108,000-square-foot storage facility at 350 S. Broadway. The building will house 936 self-storage units and 29 parking spaces once complete. According to the application filed with the IDA, the facility will employ one full-time worker and two part-time workers when operational.

One board member pushed back before the vote went through. Reginald Spinello abstained, citing a fundamental concern about what taxpayers are actually getting in return. “This is taxpayer money that we’re giving you,” Spinello said during the meeting. “Taxpayer money demands community benefit and I don’t see a real community benefit here.” He said he would rather see the land attract new businesses and generate real jobs for the community.

His concern has a straightforward basis in the numbers. Vault Equities currently pays $144,405 annually in property taxes on the site. Under the approved tax incentive package, the company will save roughly $1 million in property taxes over the next 15 years. The full $1.6 million figure encompasses the broader package of IDA benefits, which typically includes breaks on mortgage recording taxes and sales taxes on construction materials in addition to property tax relief.

The $19.2 million project received approval from the Oyster Bay Town Board in 2025. According to Erik Snipas of the Greenberg Traurig law firm, who represented Vault Equities at both the town board and IDA proceedings, construction has not yet started and the facility will not be finished for more than a year.

The site itself presents an unusual configuration. The 1.6-acre parcel straddles two zoning districts. The storage structure will be built entirely within the business zone, while the 29 parking spaces will sit in the adjacent residential zone. Snipas described this arrangement at the August 2025 town board meeting.

The IDA’s justification for approving self-storage projects under its economic development mandate is a question worth asking. IDAs were created to stimulate job creation and economic growth. A facility that permanently employs three people, two of them part-time, is a thin return on $1.6 million in forgone tax revenue. The application does cite roughly 85 construction jobs, but those positions are temporary and do not reflect the ongoing economic contribution the site will make to Hicksville once the building opens.

For comparison, the current property tax bill at 350 S. Broadway runs about $144,000 per year. The $1 million property tax component of the break spread over 15 years amounts to roughly $67,000 per year in taxes the facility will not pay at full assessed rates. Local school districts, the Town of Oyster Bay, and Nassau County all draw from that property tax base. Every dollar of abatement is a dollar those taxing bodies do not collect, meaning other property owners fill the gap.

Self-storage facilities have become a recurring fixture on Long Island’s commercial strips over the past decade. They generate minimal traffic, require few municipal services, and create almost no employment. Those characteristics make them low-risk investments for developers. They do not, however, fit the traditional profile of a project an industrial development agency was designed to subsidize.

Spinello’s abstention signals at least some recognition within the IDA board that the agency’s standards deserve scrutiny. Five of his colleagues disagreed, and the deal is now approved.

Vault Equities will begin work on a timeline that pushes completion past spring 2027. In the meantime, Hicksville property owners and businesses will continue paying their full tax bills while the storage company builds toward a reduced assessment. Whether the IDA revisits its criteria for what qualifies as a community benefit, or continues approving storage warehouses on the same terms as manufacturers and tech employers, will tell Long Island residents a great deal about whose interests the agency is actually serving.