Josh Packaging plans second Suffolk factory

Abe Golsh and Nejat Rahmani, co-owners of Josh Packaging, seen here on Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, are looking to expand their operations in Hauppauge with a second factory. Photo Credit: Jeffrey Basinger

Josh Packaging Inc. hopes to purchase 40 Rabro Dr. in Hauppauge to use as a plant and warehouse. It also will renovate its existing office and plant at 245 Marcus Blvd., also in Hauppauge.

The county’s Industrial Development Agency endorsed the $5.9 million project on Thursday with tax breaks valued at $696,400 over 10 years. The largest will come from a 27.5 percent reduction in property taxes, saving $320,540.

In return, Josh Packaging owners Abe Golsh and Nejat Rahmani promised to keep the company in Suffolk instead of moving to New Jersey, and to add 10 jobs to its workforce of 36 in the next two years. Records show employees earn, on average, $33,500 per year excluding medical and retirement benefits.

The tax breaks “will allow us to expand our operations, purchase new equipment and add new employees to our roster locally rather than in New Jersey,” Golsh, the company’s president, told the IDA’s board of directors on Thursday. “We are completely maxed out of space in our current facility.”

Josh Packaging started in Brooklyn in 1986. As sales increased it moved to Oceanside in 1993 and then Hauppauge in 2008, said Rahmani, vice president. The company’s bags are seen in supermarkets, dollar stores and warehouse clubs.

The proposed project would more than double Josh Packaging’s space to 84,500 square feet.

The Rabro Drive building has been home to Muller Martini Corp., a Swiss manufacturer of post-press finishing equipment for book and newspaper publishers.

Two years ago, the Islip Town IDA offered $374,000 in tax breaks over 10 years to Lorraine Gregory Communications of East Farmingdale to move to the building, according to town records. However, the advertising firm decided not to move.