ACCORD REACHED ON CANON’s NEW SITE

[Anonymous]

Accord reached on Canon site
Hands
have been shaken and the way is clear for Canon USA to build a new,
Western Hemisphere headquarters at the “pumpkin farm” in Melville after
two developers ironed out their differences in a mediation session in
Hauppauge Wednesday evening.”We struck a deal,” said an elated County
Executive Steve Levy, who hosted the session at his offices. “It’s a
major coup for Long Island.”Just what that deal entails probably won’t
be known until closing papers are filed months from now. Levy said he
was sworn to secrecy about details of the verbal settlement reached in
“gentlemanly” discussions under the guidance of retired judge Milton
Mollen.Tilles Investment Co. last month sued Holiday Organization,
which had contracted to buy the land from Roger Tilles a year ago for
about $70 million for residential development, but then reversed course
to flip the property to Canon for a reported $102 million. Tilles said
the land was his, not Holiday’s, to sell.Levy said the developers and
their advisers and partners were gathered in a large conference room
and asked not to leave until everyone met to discuss the status of
talks. Then Mollen segregated them and spoke to them one at a time, to
get their position and solicit settlement offers. Six or seven hours
later, after about three offers and counteroffers, “we nailed it,” Levy
said. “We’re just ecstatic that we were able to lock them in a room and
have better judgment prevail,” he said.Canon’s new headquarters will be
important not only for the 1,080 jobs it is keeping on Long Island
after it moves from Lake Success, but for 1,000 more positions the
imaging giant plans to bring. Many of those will be in research and
development, officials say, the kind that can kick-start all kinds of
benefits to communities in the region.”It’s one thing to get an
infusion of minimum-wage jobs, but this is the real deal — these are
jobs upon which you base careers,” Levy said. “That’s just fantastic
for the local economy.”The prospect that the pumpkin farm dispute could
torpedo the region’s biggest economic development project in years had
sent panic through the ranks of government officials. But the spoiler
role was also unappetizing for Tilles, 60, and Holiday chief executive
Gerald Monter, 85, men who would rather be known for their local
philanthropy these days. Tilles is a member of the state Board of
Regents and the governor-elect’s transition team; Monter’s family
foundation gave $10 million for the new Monter Cancer Center that
opened this year as part of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health
System in Lake Success.So, if details were few Thursday, the relief was
palpable. “Everyone feels it was a successful outcome,” Tilles said
Thursday, crediting the county for its management of the meeting.”The
county was great,” agreed Howard Stein, an attorney for Monter. “Steve
Levy and [Deputy County Executive] Kevin Law were really instrumental
in getting this thing resolved.”Canon, which has endured repeated
frustration of its past efforts to build a new headquarters, continues
to be cautious in its public statements about its plans. There is,
after all, plenty of due-diligence work to be completed before an
actual closing next year.”Canon is happy that the county executive and
town officials have demonstrated leadership and their commitment to the
shared vision of a Canon North and South American headquarters located
on Long Island,” said Bruce Blakeman, the broker on the deal.

[Author]

December 18, 2006 at 2:48 PM