Plans to renovate and convert the long-vacant former Walmart on Route 58 for re-use as a Restaurant Depot store were approved by the Riverhead Planning Board yesterday afternoon.
The Planning Board granted approval to the site plan application of Riverhead Plaza for improvements to 65,267 square feet of vacant commercial space, including the construction of a five-bay loading dock, concrete retaining walls with a height of 11 feet, the installation of sound attenuating walls with a height of 12 feet, and the installation of new electrical infrastructure. An existing outdoor sales area will be removed. Plans also call for facade improvements, landscaping improvements, lighting updates and milling and repaving the existing parking area.
Restaurant Depot, a business-to-business wholesale food service supplier, announced in November that it had entered a 15-year lease to fill almost 60% of the 112,000-square-foot vacant store formerly occupied by Walmart. 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 currently located in Bohemia.
The Planning Board voted 4-0 (with member Joseph Baier absent) to approve the site plan.
The remainder of the former Walmart location, another 46,733 square feet, remains available for lease.
The improvements and lease to Restaurant Depot will revitalize a struggling shopping center, one of the oldest retail centers on Route 58 and a hub of commerce when the now-bustling commercial corridor was in its infancy.
The shopping center has a number of other existing tenants, including a Gala Fresh supermarket, a liquor store, card shop, shoe store, Chinese restaurant, pizzeria and a dollar store. But the loss of anchor tenant Walmart nearly a decade ago left a gap that was difficult to fill.
The property owner, Philips International, for a time was in negotiations with Regal Cinemas and had unveiled plans for major renovations to accommodate the construction of a new multiplex cinema at the site, but Regal eventually backed out.
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