Town officials balk at Suffolk Theater owner’s plans for rear of building

A dispute over an area of land behind the Suffolk Theater threatens the theater’s continued existence, theater owner Bob Castaldi told the Riverhead Town Board today.

Castaldi, who in late May began putting a fence around a 6,800-square-foot area behind the theater and the adjacent building on its west side, is facing eviction from a space he’s been renting in the adjacent building and using as a “green room” for his theater acts.

“No green room, no acts. No acts, no theater,” Castaldi said.

The law firm that owns the adjacent building and leased the “green room” space to Castaldi terminated his tenancy days after he started putting up the fence. The termination notice gave Castaldi until July 31 to vacate the “green room” space — a 600-square foot room within a building used by the law firm for file storage. He was served with eviction papers on Aug. 1.

Castaldi is asking the town to approve a temporary trailer — to be used as a green room — and the fencing he started to erect before the town ordered him to stop.

The land Castaldi wants to fence in includes property deeded to him by the town in 2006 as well as an exclusive easement over town-owned land bordering his property on two sides.

Castaldi said it has always been his intention to build an addition to the theater building to accommodate a larger stage, a backstage area and dressing rooms. He also wants to use the land for special events hosted by the theater.

“When we have a wedding, for instance, we’d like to be able to have a tent outside for the cocktail hour instead of having to hold the cocktail hour and dinner in the same space,” Castaldi said. It’s something clients look for, he said.

Castaldi wants to erect an eight-foot stockade fence around the area to provide privacy for the space.

Stephen Angel, a partner in the law firm of Esseks, Hefter and Angel next door to the theater, questioned the validity of the deed in an interview in June.

Angel said he’s been parking in that area “personally for 43 years.” The parking lot area is used for fuel delivery and garbage removal, too, he said.

“We believe we have rights to that parking area,” Angel told RiverheadLOCAL.

Castaldi’s company, Pike Realty LLC, purchased the theater site from the Riverhead Town Community Development Agency in 2005 for $707,000. Included in the sale was land to north of the 9,300-square-foot brick theater building that the community development agency had acquired from the Riverhead Parking District for the purpose of conveying it to Castaldi, as well as a small parcel of land the CDA acquired from Riverhead Enterprises Inc., which then owned the former Woolworth building to the east of the theater.

In December 2006 the parking district granted Pike Realty an exclusive easement and right of way in perpetuity on a parcel adjoining the theater property on two sides. The easement allows Pike Realty to place “necessary mechanical equipment, utility meters… trash dumpsters, temporary trailers (non-habitable) for performer’s equipment, fountain(s) installation of landscaping, lighting, fencing, signage, free-standing awning(s)and for deliveries to and from the [performing arts center].”

Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter in June said Castaldi needed site plan approval to put up the fence and place a trailer on the site.

Castaldi met with the town board today to discuss his proposed site plan. He got push-back from Walter and board members on the stockade fencing.

“I don’t want this fence going up around the easement area,” Walter told Castaldi today. “If you want to do a really nice — one of those fake wrought-iron fences, make it look nice with plantings and flowers and stuff then I wouldn’t have a problem with that. I’m just not going to support a stockade fence,” Walter said.

Castaldi said what the supervisor was asking him to do is “cost-prohibitive.”

“Then wait until you’re ready to do what you’re going to do,” Walter said, referring to the eventual building addition.

Castaldi maintains the theater needs to hold special events to sustain its operation, which he says is still operating at an annual loss.

“I’ve lost hundreds of thousands of dollars operating the theater,” he said in an interview after the meeting. The events help support the shows the theater puts on, which are always a gamble, for a variety of reasons — including weather, Castaldi said.

“If I book a wedding or a corporate party, I know in advance exactly how many people will be there. With a show, most of the time I don’t know until it goes on,” he said.”

“Without the events, I’m not sure the theater can survive.”

Walter suggested a four-foot picket fence instead of the stockade fence, which he said would be ugly. But Castaldi said a four-foot fence would not provide the privacy necessary for using the space for special events.

“If you’re having special events, you don’t want people looking into your event area,” he said. A four-foot fence would not provide security either, he said.

Castaldi already bought the stockade fencing, which is stacked inside an existing fenced area on his site. He said he asked the building department before he bought it. He also notes that existing fencing on his site has been in place for 10 years and he was never told he needed a permit for it. He said the town is afraid of getting sued by the law firm next door to the theater.

Walter told Castaldi to focus on getting approval for the trailer so he will have a green room for his acts. “That’s what you really need immediately,” he said.

“You want to fence your existing property, that’s fine,” Walter said.

“You’ve done such a beautiful job with the theater. It is the landmark in downtown, without a doubt,” Councilwoman Jodi Giglio told Castaldi. She said she would want to see plantings around any fencing so it would be attractive.

“We want it to look better than a stockade fence. It’s going to look like a Dumpster enclosure,” Walter said.

Castaldi eventually agreed to modify his plan by fencing his own property with stockade fencing — an area large enough to accommodate both the trailer and a tent — and erecting a four-foot fence around the easement area. The site plan will also be amended to move the trailer east to keep clear a 20-foot fire lane so the fire department could access the back of the theater and the adjacent buildings with fire trucks.

But Giglio said she would not support the site plan unless the parking district committee was first given a chance to weigh in on it.

“Number one, I want it to be well-known that this board didn’t have anything to do with this easement,” Giglio said. “Number two, I think they should weigh in they’re because they’re losing parking spaces.”

“Jodi, that ship has sailed,” Walter told her.

“They did have input when this was done,” Councilman John Dunleavy said.

“I don’t know if it was the original intention of the parking district to have this area fenced off and lose parking there,” Giglio said.

“The parking district still owns the property and they gave him the easement to use it for the things in the easement and I’m not seeing fencing,” Giglio said.

“Talk to Bob Koz,” Walter told her, referring to town attorney Robert Kozakiewicz.

“I think it should be referred to the parking district,” Giglio insisted. They pay parking district taxes and should have input.” Walter repeated that she should speak to the town attorney.

“You have a lot of work to do to get the trailer specs to us and on the site plan,” Walter told Castaldi.

“All this hard work and sacrifice and all the good that the theater has done is at risk because of a dispute with one person who doesn’t want to walk 23 feet to get to his car, Castaldi told the board, referencing his attorney neighbor.

“If [Angel] had come to me to discuss it, I would have gladly given him a key to the gate so he could park his car where he always does,” Castaldi said after the meeting.

Angel said in June he was displeased that Castaldi started fencing the area without giving him any notice.

Castaldi has formed a not-for-profit corporation, Suffolk Performing Arts Alliance, which is in the process of assembling a board of directors, he said in an interview after the board meeting. The group will take over responsibility for programming and running the theater, Castaldi said. He is hoping the organization will take over operations by the end of the year.

“It was never my plan to run a theater,” said Castaldi, a builder by trade.

“I just fell in love with the building and knew I had to restore it,” he said.

The 1930s art-deco, 800-seat movie theater closed in 1987. Riverhead Town bought it in 1994 with the intention of renovating it for use as a performing arts center. The project never got off the ground. Riverhead sold the building to Castaldi in 2005 but Castaldi’s renovation plans stalled after the town signed a master developer agreement with Apollo Real Estate Advisors to redevelop the struggling downtown district. The dispute grew and Castaldi eventually sued the town. The lawsuit was settled in 2010, after Walter’s administration took office.

Castaldi, a Cutchogue resident, said he poured his life’s savings into the project, painstakingly restoring it to its former glory. The Suffolk Theater opened in March 2013. It employs about 70 people and draws 80 percent of its audiences from outside the Town of Riverhead, according to Castaldi.

He and his wife continue to support the theater’s operation with personal funds, he said.

“There are two things in life I did that are perfect,” Castaldi said, his voice briefly growing thick with emotion. “Having and raising my daughter and restoring that theater.”