The Jazz Loft takes major step in acquiring historic Vail-Leavitt Music Hall

The Riverhead Town Board approved The Jazz Loft as the qualified and eligible operator of the historic Vail-Leavitt Music Hall on Tuesday night, setting the stage for the 144-year-old downtown theater to reopen next summer after years of sitting vacant.

The 4-1 vote during the contentious board meeting came after Councilman Kenneth Rothwell — who was formerly staunchly opposed to The Jazz Loft’s bid — joining the majority in favor of the Stony Brook-based nonprofit.

Next step would be for the contract to be officially signed. Jazz Loft founder Tom Manuel’s nonprofit will pay $150,000 to purchase and run the landmark theater, with plans for a two-phase renovation.

“I agree that there seems to be some financial concerns about how they move forward, but in the final hours, they have philanthropists in town that have validated the work that they were doing, and intend to stand by them,” Mr. Rothwell said. “It has the potential to be a really great project, and those people have invested themselves in other projects within our town that have become very successful. I think with the proper guidance and backing of others, The Jazz Loft could be successful.” 

The approval came despite opposition from Councilman Bob Kern, who cast the lone dissenting vote, and a last-minute challenge from Mark Chroscielewski, a South Jamesport resident and founder of music venues Irving Plaza in Manhattan and Warsaw in Brooklyn, who proposed a competing bid with local builder Raymond Castronovo back in April.

Mr. Chroscielewski took to the podium to claim The Jazz Loft was not financially viable or qualified to run the operation. Mr. Kern expressed similar concerns before casting his dissenting vote.

“This is a town building, the taxpayers own that building,” Mr. Kern said. “In order for it to be successful, I think it needs to be a true performing arts center, so they can benefit the businesses downtown and visitors to Riverhead — with that, I vote no.”

During a heated exchange, Councilwoman Denise Merrifield refuted Mr. Chroscielewski’s claims of the renovations costing millions of dollars, including safety upgrades. The estimated total combined costs for the project would be over $300,000, according to an initial investigation conducted by Joel Snodgrass of Steward Preservation Services.

Thomas Glennon, Mr. Chroscielewski’s business partner, aired his frustrations on Zoom and claimed he hired an architect and engineer to survey the Vail-Leavitt space, who identified “serious issues,” such as the need for a sprinkler system installation and ADA-compliant elevator.

“I know it’s going to take at least $500,000 to a million dollars to put in a new sprinkler system in the building, to put in an ADA-compliant elevator, to put a mechanical system in to make it code compliant,” Mr. Glennon said. “I’m assuming that in their proposal, they capture all this stuff.”

The councilwoman continued to defend The Jazz Loft’s qualifications and took offense to a remark made about the lengthy process of selecting a buyer, as well as Mr. Chroscielewski’s assertion that The Jazz Loft was not able to secure donors.

“It took so long in the process because you kept coming back, whether it was executive session or whether it was work sessions, with different proposals one after another,” Ms. Merrifield said to Mr. Chroscielewski . “You say it was delayed because [Mr. Manuel] couldn’t find donors — that’s not true at all. In fact, he missed grant opportunities because this board kept listening to different versions of the operation you want to do, which is not viable.”

“It’s 10 years in operation, already fully functioning, huge audiences all the time,” the councilwoman continued. “Just saying that they don’t know what they’re doing is really disingenuous.”

In response to complaints about the town never issuing a Request for Proposal, town attorney Erik Howard said due to the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall’s property falling under the urban renewal area category, the Riverhead Town Board is not required to put out an RFP.

“The process is designed to be more flexible, so that the town board can identify a qualified and eligible sponsor that will, in their assessment, have the best chance of redeveloping the distressed property,” Mr. Howard said. “There’s nothing in this process that has been done incorrectly.”

Representatives of The Jazz Loft stated their case at the Oct. 16 qualified and eligible hearing, where they mentioned that in the last five years, ticket revenues have exceed $3 million at The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook. In terms of working capital, 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.

At the hearing, 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.