Land clearing has begun at the 42-acre site where a 271,000-square-foot shopping center is planned — and the activity has drawn picketers from the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 138. The union is protesting the contractor’s use of nonunion equipment operators.
The Shops at Riverhead, which will stretch from Old Country Road north to Foxwood Village, is the future site of a 150,000-square-foot Costco Wholesale Club, a 16-pump fueling facility and an additional 120,450-square-feet of retail space in a total of eight separate buildings.
The development was scaled back from the 499,000-square-foot commercial development originally proposed in 2007. The more intense buildout relied on transferring development rights from agricultural preservation zone sending areas. The developer may build the additional 228,000 commercial space in the future and gained approval from the town board to clear the entire site in anticipation of the construction of the second phase of the development.
Photo caption: Union protestors this morning at the site of The Shops at Riverhead, where a Costco Wholesale warehouse, and at least eight other stores, is planned. RiverheadLOCAL photo by Peter Blasl.
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