Petrocelli seeks hotel, spa uses in restored historic home

The developer who — albeit reluctantly — saved and restored a dilapidated historic home on East Main Street aired his plans for the property at Thursday’s town board work session.

Joe Petrocelli, a principal in the companies that built the L.I. Aquarium, Sea Star Ballroom and Hyatt Place East End and the Preston House hotel and restaurant, is nearing completion of an extensive rehabilitation and restoration of the 114-year-old Howell House, located adjacent to the Preston House.

Petrocelli says he’d like to use the Howell House to add five hotel suites a spa and salon to his existing hotel property, which has 20 rooms and a high-end restaurant.

“Boutique hotel chains typically require 25 rooms,” Petrocelli said in an interview after the meeting. Adding the five suites will allow the Preston House to become affiliated with a boutique hotel chain, which will help attract visitors, he said.

“The AirBNB thing has really hurt hot the hotel industry,” Petrocelli said, referring to the internet-based transient rentals phenomenon that’s disrupted the hotel business by allowing private homeowners to market their residential properties to travelers — often in violation of local zoning codes.

Petrocelli originally wanted to raze both historic homes and use the sites for parking for the aquarium and hotel. Town officials objected and Petrocelli instead embarked on the restorations — against his own better judgment and against the advice of his architect, Andrew Giambertone, who in 2017 told the town board “It would be virtually impossible to bring this building (the Howell House) back to life.”

By all accounts, Petrocelli’s painstaking restoration of the houses — which were both built in 1905 — has been a huge success. He created a bar and two-story restaurant in the Preston House and built an attached five-story, 20-room hotel to the historic building.

He embarked on the Howell House renovation after the Riverhead Landmarks Preservation Commission denied his application to demolish the home. He filed an appeal to the town board, which held a public hearing on the appeal in October 2017. He was thereafter convinced by town officials, notably Councilwoman Jodi Giglio and Landmarks Preservation Commission chairman Richard Wines to save the building — though he said at the time he wasn’t even sure how he might be able to use it.

Petrocelli got permits for the exterior renovation of the Howell House and now needs to obtain from the town board a special permit for the hotel use and site plan approval.

Petrocelli’s attorney Eric Russo told the town board Thursday the two buildings will share a common parking lot. An elevator will be added to the back of the building, he said.

The site plan will require two variances from the zoning board of appeals: one to exceed the maximum impervious surface allowed by the zoning code (85.6 percent instead of 60 percent) and one to exceed the maximum lighting encroachment on adjacent properties (.13 footcandles to the west — a municipal parking lot — and 0.14 footcandles to the east — a Petrocelli-owned property — instead of the maximum .1 allowed by code, according to the ZBA public hearing notice.) A public hearing on the variance application is scheduled before the ZBA on Thursday, Aug. 8 at 7 p.m.

The two properties, which are located in the Riverhead Parking District, will share a 34-stall parking lot to the north of both that is owned by another Petrocelli company, according to a staff report prepared by planner Kaen Gluth.

The town board plans to adopt a resolution Tuesday requesting lead agency status for purposes of review under the State Environmental Quality Review Act, which will allow the ZBA to act on the variance application on Thursday, should it choose to do so. Also on Tuesday, the town board will schedule a Sept. 4 public hearing on the Howell House special permit and proposed site plan.

The Howell house is the third historic building on East Main Street restored by Petrocelli. Riverhead Town sold the historic East Lawn building to Petrocelli in 2016. That once-stately circa 1850 mansion was purchased by the town in 1984, saving it from demolition by the developer that built the office complex that now surrounds it. The town restored the building and converted it into office space for use by the town historian and several community groups, which took occupancy in 1988, the year it was designated a town landmark. But the town failed to maintain the building and it had fallen into severe disrepair. The town sold the building to Petrocelli for $150,000, with the condition that he continue to rent an office to the town for the town historian for at least three years.

Russo said Thursday his client also has tentative plans to convert part of an existing building on an Ostrander Avenue property he purchased to the north of the Preston House to a retail use as “a souvenir shop.” The “Taste the East End” shop now located in the building east of the Hyatt Place — the building also occupied by the Jerry and the Mermaid — would be relocated there, Russo said. Its current location is not convenient for visitors to the aquarium or Preston House, he said.

Russo said he wanted to make the board aware of the possible plans, which may require a change of zone to accomplish. Petrocelli added that those plans are still very tentative.