But Atlantis principal Jim Bissett said that won't be a problem; he anticipates breaking ground on the 100-room Hyatt hotel within the next month.
"Everything is looking good," Mr. Bissett told the News-Review on Monday, while acknowledge that by imposing the deadline, the IDA "put the pressure on" to get his financing in order.
Atlantis would have never gotten loans for the new project if not for the IDA's property tax abatements, as well as a $2.4 million state grant the company received last year, he said.
Anna Maria Villa, executive director of the IDA, said the Dec. 15 deadline was made because that's the date by which the IDA begins to collect payments in lieu of taxes on projects it assists.
"It's giving them the opportunity to commence before the next tax bill is due," she said. "If they do that, they will enjoy the benefit of the exemptions.
"If not, they will owe the full taxes."
Mr. Bissett anticipates having the hotel open by May 2011.
The $21 million project will include the hotel, new exhibit space for the aquarium and a 350-seat banquet hall that will allow catered events to be held while the aquarium is open, Mr. Bissett said. Currently, events at the aquarium are held mostly on weekends and when the aquarium is closed.
The exhibit space will include different exhibits every one to two years. Some of those under consideration include the "Bodies" exhibit currently on display at South Street Seaport, a butterfly exhibit and a dinosaur exhibit in which the dinosaurs move.
"The reason the hotel is such an important factor is that it enables us to market into Manhattan and the five boroughs," Mr. Bissett said. Currently, the aquarium markets only in Suffolk and Nassau counties because people from New York City aren't likely to come out for a one-day trip -- and most of the area hotels are booked, he added.
Atlantis first received a 100 percent property tax abatement 10 years ago as an inducement to build in downtown Riverhead. That exemption expired this year, but in December, the IDA extended it another decade for the aquarium and granted an additional 10-year 100 percent property tax abatement for the new hotel. The abatements apply only to town, school, county and fire district taxes and only for improvements that have been made to the property.
Atlantis still pays taxes to the sewer, parking, lighting, ambulance and business improvement taxing districts. Its 2009 tax bill came to $125,895, according to town records. Without the IDA exemption, the full tax bill for the aquarium would have been $502,594, said tax receiver Maryann Heilbrunn.
However, Atlantis also makes a payment in lieu of taxes to the IDA based on the value of what was there before they built the hotel. That payment, around $30,000 per year, gets distributed to the town, county and school district.