Tesla expanding on LI with new 50,000-SF Westbury facility

Tesla will be expanding its Long Island presence with a new fulfillment and service center in Westbury. 

The Austin, Texas-based electric vehicle maker has leased a 50,000-square-foot retail space formerly occupied by Toys R Us in the Roosevelt Raceway Center at 1350 Corporate Drive. 

The big-box space, which has been vacant for more than four years, will be transformed into a car showroom and service center that will also sell Tesla solar panels and home-energy storage equipment. 

The Westbury facility, expected to open later this year, will be Tesla’s fourth Long Island location. The company has a 40,000-square-foot showroom and service center in Smithtown, a service center in Syosset and a showroom at the Americana Manhasset. 

At the Roosevelt Raceway Center, Tesla joins a tenant roster that includes Home Depot, Michael’s, Food Bazaar, PGA Superstore, David’s Bridal, Applebee’s, T-Mobile, AMC Theaters and Chili’s. The Tesla lease brings the complex to 96 percent occupancy, with just two vacant restaurant spaces available. 

Roosevelt Raceway Center is owned by Mattone Group Raceway LLC, an affiliate of Mattone Investors, which bought the 47-acre property for $103 million in 2008. The 427,000-square-foot Westbury retail complex, separated into two quadrants—southeast and northwest—was once part of the Roosevelt Raceway harness track property, with some of the remainder of that site developed into the sprawling Meadowbrook Pointe condo community by Jericho-based Beechwood Organization.  

Mattone, with offices in Westbury and College Point, owns more than 2 million square feet of commercial space, including a 12,000-square-foot retail strip center on Sunrise Highway in Massapequa and an 8,000-square-foot medical office building in Bay Shore. 

The new Tesla facility in Westbury will likely open ahead of rival electric vehicle maker Lucid’s new service center in Plainview, which is expected to open early next year. The 24,000-square-foot Lucid facility at 45 South Service Road will be the company’s first Long Island service center, as LIBN reported last week.