Riverhead breaks ground on $32.6M Town Square project to revitalize downtown

Riverhead broke ground Friday on its $32.6 million Town Square project as residents and dignitaries watched an excavator tear into a Main Street building — the first visible step in the long-awaited downtown revitalization.

Supervisor Tim Hubbard and his fellow Town Board members looked on with pride as the demolition at 127 East Main St. marked a milestone that has been in planning and discussion for nearly 30 years, the supervisor said.

“A project of this scale does not happen without strong partners and significant investment,” said Mr. Hubbard, who exits his role as supervisor at the end of the month. “These dollars are not only an investment in bricks and mortar, but in our downtown Riverhead’s long-term economic health and cultural life.”

Jerry Halpin, who takes over as supervisor next month after defeating Mr. Hubbard by just 37 votes, also lauded the project.

“From here, we’ll do everything we can to make sure that downtown has the best opportunity to be successful,” Mr. Halpin said. “Whether it’s someone who is currently here, or the new businesses that are coming in.”

New York Secretary of State Walter Mosley joined the ceremony, calling the development a model for community revitalization across the state.

The Riverhead Town Square project is the largest effort backed by the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, which provides $10 million grants for community redevelopment.

“We’re now witnessing this community utilizing their DRI to build on its strength while also harnessing its history and its unique charm,” Mr. Mosley said. “They have taken a thoughtful and thorough look at how to carefully curate what the future of this land will look like come this spring.”

He noted that demolishing the 1950s-era building that most recently housed the popular Craft’D bar will open up downtown and create a new gathering space.

“It’s reconnecting this community with its history, its downtown and its waterfront,” Mr. Mosley said. “Because when you honor the past, you learn from the past. And when you learn from the past you are able to make room for innovative thinking and projects that will be transformative, turning a site into a destination that is great to live, work and play.”

Also attending the hour-long event were 1st District Legislator Catherine Stark, state Sen. Anthony Palumbo and Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio, who bundled up against temperatures hovering around 32 degrees on the brisk Peconic waterfront. Former Greenport Village mayor David Kapell was also recognized for pushing downtown revitalization efforts on the East End.

At the end of the countdown, Andy Williams’ Christmas classic “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” played as the luminaries watched the demolition crew begin razing the building.

“When you start to see machinery come in, pavements being torn up and buildings prepared to be torn down you’re actually starting to see what’s happening in real time,” Mr. Mosley said. “The plans you started out in meetings are now being put into action.”

J. Petrocelli Development Associates was tapped to develop a five-story, 78,000-square-foot mixed-use building with up to 80 Hilton Tapestry Collection hotel rooms and 12 condominium units, along with restaurant and retail space and 12 underground parking spots.

The project will also include landscaped green areas, an amphitheater, a children’s playground and pedestrian pathways linking Main Street to the waterfront, according to the town.

Riverhead won the competitive $10 million state grant in 2022 after applying every year since the program launched in 2016.

Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin announced Riverhead and the Village of Amityville as winners during a Zoom meeting with town officials, selecting them from among more than 90 applicants, the Riverhead News-Review previously reported.

The town had previously lost out to other Long Island communities including Westbury, Hicksville, Central Islip and Baldwin.

In addition to the $10 million DRI grant, Empire State Development has given $3.2 million to Riverhead in the last five years for the project through Restore New York and Pro-Housing Communities grants. Riverhead Town also secured a $24 million federal RAISE grant from transportation funding.

“It really is a ‘Hunger Games’ when you think about it,” Mr. Palumbo said as he applauded Gov. Kathy Hochul for bringing the state funds to Riverhead. “I think many people mistake the East End as a place where there’s tremendous wealth, that everyone’s from Hollywood, and those of us that live here realize that that’s not the case. To make this kind of investment in our community is really important.”

Riverhead officials cleared the way for the project in 2021 by tearing down deteriorating structures at 117 and 121 East Main St., located opposite The Suffolk. Removing those buildings opened up sight lines to the Peconic River.

This past September, the town used eminent domain to acquire the Craft’D space, paying the owner a $170,000 settlement. The town has also purchased several additional properties in the area over time.

Once the demolition is completed, Mr. Petrocelli said, subsurface testing and structural analysis of the area will take place before the hotel is built.

That process will begin in the spring and he expects the hotel to be fully completed by 2027.

“It takes generations to change a town; you’re not going to do it overnight,” Mr. Petrocelli said Friday. “Once we have another attraction, now our destination gets bigger and I think the hotel is about bringing people here.”