Mattituck builders Paul Pawlowski and Kenneth Ballato are buying the former Homeside Florist & Greenhouses site on the corner of Main Road and Cross River Drive in Riverhead.
Pawlowski said they don’t yet have firm plans for the four-acre site.
“We look forward to working with the town to come up with a good application for the property,” Pawlowski said today.
“It’s a unique property because it has both commercial and residential zoning and we feel that something could be nicely done there, given the fact that it’s on the corner of a very important gateway to Riverhead,” Pawlowski said.
Homeside Florist and Greenhouses closed its doors on Dec. 31, 2018, after 64 years of operation by the Olsen family. Family patriarch Ernie Olsen bought the property in 1954. He built the business and worked at it every day until he became ill in 2016. After he passed away in October 2018 at age 91, his children, Andrea and Kris, both in their 60s, decided to close the business after many years of running the operation with their father.
“There have been many years of hard work on the Homeside site and our goal is to continue on that path,” Pawlowski said.
The parties signed a contract of sale for an undisclosed sum earlier this week.
Jack O’Connor of Newmark Knight Frank was the seller’s broker and Ray Ruiz of Jones Lang LaSalle represented the buyer.
Pawlowski said he expects the closing to take place in 30 to 45 days.
Pawlowski recently completed construction of a two-story commercial building on the Route 24 traffic circle, on the former site of a diner and, before that, a Howard Johnson’s restaurant.
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