Warehouse tied to investor Carl Icahn

The warehouse property in the Village of Chester named by the federal government as a potential future ICE facility is owned by IEP Chester LLC, a subsidiary of Icahn Enterprises.

Founded by billionaire businessman and investor Carl Icahn, Icahn Enterprises L.P., according to its website, is a diversified holding company engaged in seven primary business segments: Investment, Energy, Automotive, Food Packaging, Real Estate, Home Fashion and Pharma.

IEP Chester LLC is a foreign limited liability company registered with the New York State Department of State. The corporation service company is registered at 80 State St. in Albany and was initially filed on Aug. 17, 2023, by Icahn Enterprises Director and Chief Financial Officer Ted Papapostolou.

The former site of a Pep Boys warehouse, 29 Elizabeth Drive is listed on LoopNet.com as 401,746 square feet of 4-star industrial space built in 1999 on a 35.9-acre property with 52 loading docks. The rental rate is listed as $13 per square foot per year not including utilities, property expenses or building service.

Attempts to contact Papapostolou and property listing agent Jules Nissim of Cushman and Wakefield about the property have been unsuccessful. The Department of Homeland Security/ICE has not answered repeated requests for comment on the matter.

Over the years, Icahn, 89, has donated to candidates of all political stripes – including President Trump and Sen. Chuck Schumer – with the majority of his donations having gone to Republicans, according to followthemoney.org. Icahn helped advise Trump on regulatory matters in 2017.

Background

As previously reported, a Jan. 8 “Notice of Activity” was posted on the Department of Homeland Security’s website. It reads, in part:

“ICE is proposing to purchase, occupy and rehabilitate a warehouse property at 29 Elizabeth Drive, Chester, N.Y. in support of ICE operations. Proposed site improvements may include, but are not limited to, internal structural changes, surface parking area modifications, installation of a small guard building (approximately 150 square feet), establishment of an outdoor recreation area, utility and stormwater improvements, and fence line modifications. No site improvements are expected to be taller than the existing structure or expand beyond the current site boundaries, and all work and construction staging will occur within the parcel boundary. The new and modified facilities would occupy approximately 35.9 acres of land within the Village of Chester in Orange County.”

The facility, according to The Washington Post, would be part of a larger plan to house 80,000 individuals in warehouses across the country. Chester Mayor John Bell says the village has had no contact with the federal government prior to or after the Jan. 8 Notice of Activity.

The Village of Chester responded to last month’s Department of Homeland Security/ICE Notice of Activity with a 59-page document consisting of a letter from Mayor Bell followed by various exhibits outlining why the village believes ICE is precluded from opening a processing facility at the site of the former Pep Boys warehouse located at 29 Elizabeth Drive.