Riverhead plans to seize two Main Street properties by eminent domain for Town Square plan

The Town of Riverhead plans to use eminent domain to acquire two prime properties to build a new Town Square — a centerpiece of downtown revitalization plans — despite opposition from the community.

The town is eyeing two properties on the south side of Main Street, displacing Craft’D, a bar that opened in 2019, and a former department store where the Long Island Science Center has plans to move. Riverhead already owns the Craft'D building and wants to buy out the remaining nine years on the bar's lease. The town purchased that building in 2021 for $950,000, according to Suffolk County property records. It was one of three the town purchased in 2021 to make way for the square. The other two have been demolished. 

An upper and lower town square are planned to expand public green space near the Peconic River and better connect Main Street to the waterfront. But the project has sparked backlash from business owners and residents over the use of eminent domain.

Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard said in an interview he still hopes to reach agreements with both the science center and bar owners before starting the eminent domain process.

"If not, we’re not going to let that get in our way, because we need this going,” Hubbard told Newsday.

Craft’D co-owner Sean Kenna said it was “a big surprise” the town was moving forward with eminent domain but said he won't go down without a "fight." Kenna said the bar is in a key location, close to the Suffolk Theater on East Main Street, to attract pre- and postshow crowds.

“It’s a thriving business downtown … Now we’re getting looked at as the black sheep,” Kenna said. “Like we’re in the way.”

Eminent domain issue

The town board will hold public hearings on the property seizures on May 21.

Eminent domain allows the government to take private properties for public use and requires owners be paid “just compensation,” according to the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based nonprofit focused on public interest law. The town board is paying to have both properties appraised.

Other Long Island municipalities have used eminent domain for public projects in recent years. Southold seized a 1.8-acre property at the corner of Main Road and New Suffolk Avenue in Mattituck to build a town park in 2019. The property was owned by Ben and Hank Brinkmann, owners of Brinkmann's Hardware, who exhausted their legal appeal options last year when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. The duo had wanted to build a hardware store on the property.

Riverhead plans to convey the Craft'd property to the company overseeing the project, J. Petrocelli Development Associates of Ronkonkoma. The developer will build a five-story hotel and condominium building on the site. The town, in environmental review documents, says "no proposed uses of the science center site are envisioned," but officials plan to raze the building and redevelop it.

Town officials say Kenna has had several years to find a new location.

“They’ve had a few different options, all of which they, for whatever reason, did not accept or pursue,” Dawn Thomas, Riverhead’s Community Development director, said in an interview.

Revitalization efforts

In 2022, the state awarded Riverhead $10 million in downtown revitalization grants to pay for the public square and other improvements.

Plans include a terraced upper and lower green space that slope down to the Peconic River, an adaptive playground, amphitheater and parking garage.

To flank the town square near Main Street, a boutique 72-room hotel and 12 condominiums would be built on the eastern side, replacing Craft'd. The Long Island Science Center wants to move into the west side.

The nonprofit science museum bought the building, a vacant former Swezey’s Department Store, for $1.45 million in 2020, county property records show. Initially, museum directors planned a new state of the art facility with a price tag between $12 and $15 million. The center has been operating out of a temporary storefront in Tanger Outlets in Riverhead since 2021.

Town officials have cast doubt on the group’s ability to finance the new center.

“I don’t think anybody up here on this board does not want the science center at that location, but the science center needs to be able to prove that it can do it,” Hubbard said at Tuesday’s meeting.

Riverhead officials have also said the building is "not safe or habitable," within a flood zone and would be torn down once acquired.

Long Island Science Center president Larry Oxman said the building is structurally sound and needs mostly cosmetic fixes.

Oxman said he’s “optimistic” about working with the town on a solution. Currently, the organization plans to use a $1 million JumpSmart grant from Suffolk County to renovate the building and open.

He pictures the center as a regional tourist attraction.

“One of the reasons why we chose Riverhead was its proximity to the  aquarium,” Oxman said, referring to the Long Island Aquarium on East Main Street. “The two make perfect sense to be together.”

Petition drive

Melissa Mapes of Riverhead launched an online petition in support of the science center that had more than 300 signatures last week. She said she's concerned the town will eventually approve apartments or condos at the location. The petition is titled, "Condos or Kids? Save The New Long Island Science Center." 

In an interview, Mapes said her 8-year-old daughter is an aspiring engineer and their family is “heartbroken” over the town’s plans.

“All of the kids in the community deserve this,” Mapes said. “What should be there is for the future generations, an educational place, a museum,” she said.

Hubbard said the prospect of the town approving housing at that site was "absurd."

“The idea is to have some sort of attraction there,” Hubbard said.

Town officials are aiming to break ground on the town square this summer, but have not finalized terms of an agreement with Petrocelli, the master developer.

Petrocelli is also the developer behind the Long Island Aquarium and two downtown hotels.