The governor has signed the bill transferring the New York State Armory on Route 58 to the Town of Riverhead, Supervisor Sean Walter announced today.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the bill, introduced by State Senator Ken LaValle and Assemblyman Dan Losquadro, into law last night.
The Armory building sits on 5.7 acres of land on Route 58 and the town plans to move the town police headquarters and justice court there — which long ago outgrew their cramped quarters in a building erected adjacent to Town Hall in the mid-1980s. The state building, once occupied by the New York National Guard, has been vacant for several years.
Walter called the acquisition of the Armory “an enormous feather in Riverhead’s cap,” and thanked the state legislators for their hard work to get the transfer authorized.
“The armory will allow us to better serve our residents and will provide much needed ‘budgetary breathing room’ as we plan Riverhead’s future,” the supervisor said.
The armory site was once owned by the Riverhead Water District. Riverhead transferred the property to the state for construction of the armory in 1953. The deed originally contained a reverter clause requiring title to the property to go back to the town if the state ever ceased using the site as an armory. But the town agreed to strike the reverter because state law prohibited reverter or conditional clauses in conveyances of real property to the state, according to the legislative memorandum accompanying the State Senate bill in Albany.
Photo caption: The N.Y. State Armory in April 2011. Riverheadlocal file photo by Peter Blasl.
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