Royal Wine, the nation’s largest kosher wine producer and distributor, has been granted an additional $1 million exemption in sales taxes by the Orange County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) for phase two of its site construction in Goshen, New York.
The benefit announced on Aug. 16 came on the heels of a phase one incentive totaling nearly $32 million, which included more than $27 million in property tax reductions over 15 years.
Royal Wine applied for IDA tax benefits for constructing a new manufacturing and warehousing facility with a tourist tasting room at the intersection of Route 17 and Route 6 in the village of Goshen.
The move will consolidate its core operations—currently spread over four locations in New Jersey and upstate New York—and make commute time shorter for employees living in the Monroe and Spring Valley areas, according to the company’s application (pdf).
In addition to the retention and relocation of current employees, the company plans to hire an additional 55 people at the new Goshen facility, most being manufacturing workers earning $50,000 per year.
The tasting room is envisioned to be a tourist attraction by the company that will generate sales tax and other associated benefits to the county.
Phase one of the construction entails land purchase and construction of the facility, with phase two moving on to the buildout of the new building and the purchase of fixtures and equipment.
The third phase will mainly be about constructing an onsite wastewater treatment plant, for which the company might seek additional tax benefits.
Total capital investments in the Goshen facility are estimated at about $120 million, and the company decided to phase out its applications to IDA to arrive at more accurate cost estimates.
On Aug. 16, Orange County IDA also approved $700,000 in sales and mortgage recording taxes benefits to a development firm for building a 101-unit hotel in Wallkill, New York.
Chetan Patel, principal developer behind the project, said in the application that a 95-room hotel he built eight years ago—Home2Suite by Hilton Hotel in Middletown—employed 25 local residents and has generated more than $4 million in sales and occupancy taxes to the Town of Wallkill and Orange County.
County Tourism Director Amanda Dana said at the public hearing that hotels were 100 percent booked in the county between Thursday and Sunday from March and November and that more rooms would help accommodate the growing number of tourists as well as boost the local economy.
County Economic Development Director Steve Gross said the county government recently engaged Johnson Consulting for a conference feasibility study. Adequate hotel rooms were identified as a key component to the success of such a venue.
Orange County IDA is a public benefit corporation empowered by state laws to grant monetary incentives to attract new business to the county or aid the expansion of existing companies; the agency is governed by seven volunteer board members appointed by the county legislature and reports regularly to the New York State Authorities Budget Office.
Soon, the agency will face stricter oversight from a state monitor with the power to veto board decisions.
New York state Sen. James Skoufis proposed the novel measure and got it passed as part of the state budget in May.
