Could $700K help bring ‘ag center’ to downtown Riverhead?

Mr. Castaldi said a dollar amount has not yet been placed on the renovation, as the building’s future is still uncertain.

But the grant proposal approved by the economic development council estimated the total cost firehouse renovations at $2 million. Ms. Kempner said that’s more than the town could afford on its own and also said she believes the renovation could end up costing as much as $2.5 million.

To move forward with the project, Ms. Kempner said the town — and now, it seems, the state — will pursue a private-public partnership with Mr. Castaldi, who she described as “someone who is willing to renovate a vacant dilapidated building and would make it into a beautiful renovation.”

Ms. Kempner said it is common for the economic development council to choose to invest in private-public partnership projects because “they don’t want the public paying for all of these renovations.”

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The recent $700,000 funding announcement has refocused attention on what some called the lack of a competitive bidding process before the board approved the sale of the property to Mr. Castaldi — and its subsequent rezoning.

Town Board member Jodi Giglio voted against the sale, which was approved July 1. The deal was contingent upon a subsequent change in zoning that expanded possible uses of the property, which Ms. Giglio said at the time “increases the value of the property significantly.”

In 2009, the firehouse property, then under a more restrictive zone, was appraised at $1.8 million. Although that appraisal included parking spaces, which are not part of Mr. Castaldi’s deal, it is far higher than the $500,000 he has agreed to pay.

Ultimately, the board agreed unanimously to loosen the zoning. During an Oct. 7 public hearing on the matter, Councilman George Gabrielsen called it “a moral decision,” saying the board “had some kind of obligation” to Mr. Castaldi after it pulled out on a previous agreement. Mr. Walter called it “a show of good faith to the business community.”

But other prospective buyers, some of whom also do business in the community, didn’t see it that way.

“You’re changing the terms of the [request for proposals] drastically, drastically,” said James Moore, owner of John Wesley Village, at the Oct. 7 rezoning hearing. “The RFP bears no resemblance whatsoever to what the ultimate prize is going to be when the town sells.”

Before that October hearing, Ms. Giglio said Monday, Mr. Moore had written to the town, offering $600,000 for the property, should it be rezoned.

Anthony Coates, a former consultant to Mr. Walter who faced off against Ms. Giglio in last year’s Republican primary election and has since changed his party enrollment to Democratic, has been critical of the town’s handling of its real estate assets. He pointed to the firehouse sale as another example of the town dropping the ball, echoing Ms. Giglio’s calls for a new appraisal. He expressed further concern about a “public-private partnership,” viewing it more as akin to corporate welfare for Mr. Castaldi, who, he pointed out, is a campaign contributor to Mr. Walter. Campaign records show he has contributed $500 to the supervisor’s campaign over the last five years.

“It can’t appear that they are giving public dollars in the hands of a private developer,” he said. “The Town Board needs to go above and beyond to demonstrate to the people that they are not doing that.”

A notice of claim was also filed Tuesday against the town, Town Board members, the town attorney, Ms. Kempner and the entire Riverhead Republican Committee by Greg Fischer, a Democratic town committeeman who has run for town office himself on two occasions and recently ran a failed campaign for state comptroller.

Photo captions:

Top: Bob Castaldi (Credit: Katherine Schroeder); bottom: Anthony Coates (Credit: Tim Gannon)