High-end apartments planned to replace wedding venue Mediterranean Manor in Patchogue

An event venue operating for more than 50 years and a 41-year-old barbershop are among several properties slated to be replaced by high-end apartments in East Patchogue as part of a revitalization plan in the business district.

Mediterranean Manor, located at 303 E. Main St., is known for hosting weddings, sweet 16 parties and other special events.

Sal’s Patchogue Barber Shop, whose address is at 295 E. Main Street, is a tenant in the building with Mediterranean Manor.

"I want to stay in Patchogue. … I like the Patchogue area. I like Main Street," said barbershop owner Sal Bademci, 67, who is trying to relocate his business. So far, the rental prices he is finding have far exceeded the $1,700 monthly rent he pays for his 1,100-square-foot space now, he said.

The planned high-end apartments, called Greybarn Patchogue, would be the first major redevelopment in the "incentive overlay district" that the Town of Brookhaven approved in March 2020 to help revitalize a quarter-mile of East Main Street — from the Patchogue Village border to Grove Street. The overlay superseded existing zoning codes to encourage developers to build ground-level stores and upper-level apartments on East Main Street.

The goal is "to totally revitalize East Patchogue… clean up the area, bring in retail and restaurants," Brookhaven Councilman Neil J. Foley, R-District 5, said while at the barbershop last week.

"Nobody likes change. ... Change is inevitable. As long as we do it the right way, I think it’s going to be good for East Patchogue," he said.

Under two companies, Ann-Gelo Ltd. and East Main Street Ventures of NY LLC, Evan Abazis owns Mediterranean Manor, a boarded-up building at 293 E. Main St. and four other properties that will be sold to Greybarn’s developer, Rechler Equity Partners LLC, for the apartment project.

Rechler, which is based in Plainview, also built the Greybarn Amityville luxury apartments and retail space.

The developer will donate another East Patchogue property it is buying from Ann-Gelo, 312 E. Main St., to the Patchogue Arts Council to use as an art space, Foley said.

The Mediterranean Manor property has a 16,788-square-foot building on 1.5 acres, according to Brookhaven spokesman Jack Krieger.

The event venue, whose website now shows its name as The Manor of Patchogue, has been delivering "on the promise of creating amazing memories at prices that are affordable for over 53 years," the website says.

Neither Abazis nor anyone else from Mediterranean Manor responded to Newsday’s requests for comment.

The sales of the seven East Main Street properties to Rechler are expected to close this fall, said one of the company’s managing partners, Gregg Rechler, through a spokesman.

On July 13, investment and development company R Squared LLC, which is Rechler’s sister company, submitted a site plan and land use application to the town of Brookhaven for the planned Greybarn Patchogue.

The site plan shows that Greybarn Patchogue would be a three-story, 91-unit apartment building totaling 130,031 square feet.

If the town approvals are received in time, Rechler plans to demolish Mediterranean Manor and the other buildings and start construction of the new apartment building this year, Rechler said through the spokesman.

Greybarn Patchogue would have one- and two-bedroom apartments. The rental prices have not been determined yet, but 10% of the apartments would be affordable units, the Rechler spokesman said.

The development is estimated to cost $20 million and construction is expected to take two years, according to the land use application.

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that 313 E. Main St., occupied by Miller's Mint, a coin dealer, was included in the redevelopment proposal. The building was mistakenly included in the land use application filed by the developer.