News

Riverhead Town Board hires Petrocelli Contracting to oversee construction at new Town Hall

The Riverhead Town Board voted unanimously earlier this month to hire J. Petrocelli Contracting, Inc. as the “sole and exclusive construction manager” for a new Town Hall at 4 West Second Street.

The town acquired that property for $20 million from Peconic Bay Medical Center last year and town officials say they will move most town offices into the Second Street building, including the town clerk, tax receiver, community development, town attorney and councilmen.

The town will pay Petrocelli Contracting 10% of the town construction costs, which have yet to be determined.

“We don’t have to go out for a request for proposals,” said Councilman Tim Hubbard. 

“He was the right choice because he built the [Second Street] building, so he knows it inside and out. That’s why we decided to go with him. We can hit the ground running.”

The building had been occupied by Suffolk County National Bank for many years before selling it to PBMC.

Mr. Hubbard said the town is being told that PBMC will be out of the the Second Street building by the second week of May.

The hospital plans to relocate some of its offices to the former Mercy High School building, on the corner of Ostrander Avenue and Middle Road. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre shuttered the school in 2018. 

“Once they are out, the bids will go out to have the work done and once we get the bids in, we can start doing the renovations that need to be done,” Mr. Hubbard said. I’m guessing we’ll be in the building by the first of the year.” 

Amy Loeb, the executive director at PBMC, could not be reached for comment. The hospital is already using a portion of the Mercy space.

Two town functions that will remain at the current Howell Avenue site are the police department and the justice court.

The police department will expand into the court building, and the court, in turn, will take over all of current Town Hall, so that both the police and the courts will have an entire building. 

Petrocelli Contracting has been involved in numerous projects in downtown Riverhead, often restoring historic buildings that had fallen into disrepair. It built the Long Island Aquarium, which opened in 2000, and two hotels that surround it on East Main Street. 

Last year, the contracting group was also named master developer for the proposed Town Square project. 

According to an application letter submitted to the Riverhead Industrial Agency in September, Petrocelli is also involved in the redevelopment of the Enterprise Park at Calverton with Calverton Aviation and Technology and will construct Phase I of the project.