Mortgage Bankers Will Renovate New Office After IDA Package OK'd

EAST MEADOW, NY — The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) recently approved a package of economic benefits that it says will keep a Westbury mortgage banking firm on Long Island and allow it to hire more people, and also renovate a building that was once the corporate headquarters for Fortunoff.

At a meeting on May 7, the IDA authorized the benefits package for Cliffco, Inc., which owns the former Fortunoff building at 70 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. in Uniondale.

Cliffco estimated that the project will create 27 full-time-equivalent jobs within a year, 44 jobs within two years and 65 jobs within three years of the project’s completion. It is estimated that the $3.89 million project will also create 10 renovation phase jobs.

Cliffco, now in leased space at 1065 Old Country Road in Westbury, plans to relocate to the 93,000-square-foot office building that was purchased by Cliffco executives Christopher Clifford and Adam Brodar for $5 million in 2017. Cliffco plans to occupy 24,106 square feet of the largely vacant property that was built in 1985, and which served as the headquarters of Fortunoff until its 2009 bankruptcy liquidation. They plan to spend $3.9 million on renovations to the entire building to make it more attractive to other tenants. The renovations would create 10 full-time construction jobs.

Cliffco said that without the IDA’s economic assistance, it might have considered relocating its operations outside of Nassau. “We are grateful that this 33-year-old company has decided to remain in Nassau County, and we look forward to working with Cliffco to ensure that its site, close to the new Nassau HUB, is re-invigorated,” said IDA Chairman Richard Kessel.