The Jazz Loft eyes summer 2026 opening in the Vail-Leavitt Theater

Founder Tom Manuel and other colleagues made their case for The Jazz Loft in a qualified and eligible hearing on Oct. 16, where they proved to the Riverhead Town Board the Stony Brook-based nonprofit is financially viable enough to take over the historic Vail-Leavitt Music Hall.

If the $150,000 sale with Riverhead Town goes through, Mr. Manuel said The Jazz Loft @ The Vail could commence renovations of nearly 145-year-old landmark theater early next year.

The Vail-Leavitt Music Hall was founded in 1881 — making it the oldest theater in downstate New York, according to its website — and has hosted countless theatrical, musical and cultural presentations over the past century. The building is also listed on the national and state Registers of Historic Places. 

A three-decades long dispute between the Council for the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall and the Town of Riverhead reached its conclusion in October 2023, when town officials repossessed the venue.

Since then, the historic space has remained unoccupied. However, as the next steward of the Vail-Leavitt, Mr. Manuel ensured town officials The Jazz Loft would embrace its history and push the music hall towards a vibrant, active future in the Riverhead community.

“Miraculously, this theater has survived unscathed for over 144 years — despite changes on its main floor, the important theater upstairs has proven to be a survivor,” Mr. Manuel said. “Vail-Leavitt has survived hurricanes, floods and fire. It survived being used as a Chinese food restaurant, a roller rink, a cold storage facility and decades of minimal and idle use. It has survived many owners, countless town boards, and I have a feeling it will outlive all of us too.”

With its home base at 275 Christian Ave. in Stony Brook, The Jazz Loft presents a variety of jazz music styles and hosts more than 200 events annually, including the Swing Into Spring Festival and the free Harbor Jazz Festival. Its museum holds 30 archival collections from well known jazz performers, such as Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett, as well as other rotating art and photography collections.

The nonprofit’s tripart mission is to provide performance, education and preservation.

Christopher Paradysz, a trustee of The Jazz Loft and director of the Monteleone: Art of the Guitar Festival, spoke about sources of funding and how the organization stays financially viable.

In the last five years, Mr. Paradysz said ticket revenues have exceed $3 million at The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook. In terms of working capital, he said The Jazz Loft has $256,000 in cash and $850,000 in equity.

The Jazz Loft’s operators estimated that the reopening of the Vail-Leavitt would create one to two full-time and two to five part-time employment opportunities. If the theater were to host one show per month with approximately 150 people attending, The Jazz Loft @ The Vail could potentially bring in an annual revenue stream of at least $89,000. That figure could increase to $356,500 if the facility hosted even more performances.

Mr. Manuel said one of the key factors to The Jazz Loft’s success over the years is the support from generous donors and community members who fuel new concert series. For this Riverhead project, Alan Fishbein, an Aquebogue resident and founder of North Fork Investors, LLC, and Brian Stark of Jamesport endorsed The Jazz Loft @ The Vail.

“I think these guys…have one of those products that can complement what the town is doing [downtown], and it’s going to be a destination,” Mr. Stark said. “If they have the financial ability, which they clearly do, the product is something that I believe people will come to Riverhead for.”

Like the Vail-Leavitt, the Jazz Loft building in Stony Brook is also a registered historic site, and in 2014 the nonprofit launched a capital campaign to restore the building. They then undertook a $500,000 renovation and held a grand reopening one year after building permits were secured, Mr. Manuel said.

Aside from the lineup of musical acts, The Jazz Loft is looking to expand educational opportunities to Riverhead with its new theater location as well.

Laura Landor, director of education and community outreach for The Jazz Loft, said the non-profit offers workshops for area music educators, performance opportunities for school groups and master classes for the youth. The organization expressed interest in collaborating with East End Arts as well.

“They perform and the joy that their parents have when they come out, and don’t have to sit in the school auditorium to hear their little jazz band play, and they get to actually hear this in a venue that was created for these ensembles,” Ms. Landor said. “Looking at the kids’ faces light up…it made me so happy that they got to take their ensemble out of their school auditorium and put it in a venue that’s designed for that music.”