Restaurant Depot inks lease for more than 65,000 square feet of space at former Walmart location

Restaurant Depot, a business-to-business wholesale food service supplier, has entered a 15-year lease to fill part of the large vacant store formerly occupied by Walmart in Riverhead Plaza on Route 58, according to a press release issued this morning by a public relations firm on behalf of the property owner.

The store will occupy 65,267 square feet at the location, where an additional 46,733 square feet, previously occupied by Walmart, remains available for lease, according to the press release. Walmart vacated the space in 2014 after moving to a newly built shopping center on Route 58, across from Tanger Outlets.

Restaurant Depot, which has more than 130 stores across the United States, sells food, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, equipment and supplies to member restaurants and bars. The closest Restaurant Depot is located in Bohemia.

“The property’s location along County Road 58, less than two miles from the Tanger Outlets and only 25 miles from Southampton, is ideal for Restaurant Depot,” Seth Pilevsky, the co-president of Philips International, which owns the shopping center, said in the release.  “The area has a concentration of Restaurant Depot’s target customer base, including local and acclaimed restaurants, vineyards and tourist-attractive farms, making it the perfect location to serve businesses on both the North and South Forks of Long Island,” he said.

Philips International had been in negotiations with Regal Cinemas to site a multi-screen movie theater at the property, but never reached a final agreement.

“We are eager and excited for Phillips International to fill the vacancy left by Walmart and are confident that Restaurant Depot will have much success at this location,” Riverhead Supervisor Yvette Aguiar said in the press release.