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Business & Tech

East Setauket Man is Force Behind Damianos Realty

John Damianos recently relocated family firm from Stony Brook to Smithtown.

John Damianos, one of the principal owners in a family-owned group of real estate owners and developers, has been in the commercial real estate business for 30 years.

Damianos Realty LLC relocated its offices to Smithtown since it began and has since immersed itself in the community, sponsoring the Chamber of Commerce's annual "Running of the Bull" race Oct. 2, in memory of Courtney Sipes.

"This year's 5K was absolutely the best one we've had in the past five years," said Barbara Franco, executive director of the Smithtown Chamber of Commerce. "The Damianos team did such a fabulous job."

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The relocation was also beneficial for business, according to Damianos.

"We needed to expand so we moved from Stony Brook to Smithtown," he said. "We found more opportunity here. We found a stronger market."

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Damianos joined the business, currently located on Middle Country Road, because of his father Xenophon Damianos, MD. At the time he was working in the Suffolk County Attorney's office.

"I got into it because I was looking for more of a challenge than my job with the county offered," Damianos said, who currently resides in East Setauket. "My father asked me to come in and build up the business."

The company has grown since Damianos' two brothers joined.

"It was small," Damianos said. "It consisted of three buildings. We've built it into over a dozen."  

Over the years Damianos Realty has acquired over one million square feet of all types of commercial space including office buildings, garden apartments, shopping centers and warehouses.

"People who need offices call us and we build to suit," Damianos said. "We have two office parks where condominium offices are for sale as well."

The company owns buildings all over Long Island including Smithtown, Stony Brook, Port Jefferson, Babylon, Center Moriches and East Patchogue. One of the deals that stands out the most for Damianos is one for a medical fertilization clinic.

"It's a place where men and women go to have children," he said. "It's one of the more unique types of practices."

The group was also responsible for the Spaceplex complex in Nesconset that is now called the Sports Arena.  It houses indoor sports like soccer and it has a roller deck for hockey and a large game room.

Damianos says he loves the real estate business because it's stable.

"If it's handled correctly it will last indefinitely," he said. "It can be handed down by one generation to the next."

He attributes his analytical ability, patience and intelligence to the company's success. But his brother Chris, another principal in the business, says John has been successful because he has great vision and diplomacy.

"He is excellent with everyone from the architectural engineer to town officials to adjoining property owners to civic associations," Chris Damianos said."When you buy a property you have to have a vision of what you're going to do with it. You have to know how it will fit in commercially, how it should look architecturally and how it should lay out on the property. John has that vision."

John enjoys working in Smithtown because of the atmosphere.

"It's attractive," he said. "We're in the historic district. I like the ample amount of stores and restaurants. It's a positive working business environment."

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