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Expansion approved at Eagle Auto Mall’s Route 58 dealership

Eagle Auto mall (Tim Gannon)

The proposed expansion of Eagle Auto Mall’s Route 58 dealership was unanimously approved by the Riverhead Town Planning Board last Thursday. 

The dealership, which occupies 10 acres at the northeast corner of Route 58 and Osborn Avenue, received permission to build a 20,800-square-foot single-story warehouse with an attached 1,800-square-foot office building.

The approval requires improved stormwater management systems, lighting, landscaping and other site enhancements. It had received a preliminary site plan approval in November. 

Town planning aide Greg Bergman said some minor modifications had been made since then, and the applicant has complied with suggestions from the fire marshal and the Planning Board’s consulting engineer.

“There was nothing really significant between the preliminary and final [approvals],” he said. 

Eagle Auto Mall sells Chevrolet cars in one showroom and Mazda, Kia and Volvo brand vehicles in another showroom along Route 58. 

The intersection of Route 58 and Osborn Avenue figures to get a little more crowded if a number of other development projects under review become reality. 

The intersection’s southwest corner is owned by Zwanger Pesiri, which had proposed a radiology center there. Apple Honda, which recently built a new showroom, is currently using that parcel for car storage. 

On the northwest corner of the same intersection, Sonic Drive-In has proposed a fast-food restaurant just west of the gas station, and a 60,000-square-foot retail center was planned to the west of that. 

The latter proposal, which did receive town approval, was on land owned by Apple Honda owner Irwin Garsten, who died last year.

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Photo caption: Eagle Auto Mall on Route 58 in Riverhead. (Tim Gannon photo)