Riverhead Town has scored more grant money from the State of New York for projects related to the new town square.
The town has been awarded two grants of $200,000 each from the N.Y. Department of State, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced today.
One grant will help the town improve the riverfront parking area, and develop the riverfront park and adaptive playground planned for a section of the town square. The other grant will go towards building an amphitheater for outdoor concerts and shows, currently proposed for the East End Arts property.
Both projects will include measures that reduce the impact of coastal flooding along the Peconic River. Both the amphitheater and the playground will be constructed on a raised ground plane and act as a coastal resiliency wall for the town square plaza, which will be built on the same level as Main Street.
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“That’s awesome,” Community Development Director Dawn Thomas said when she heard the town received the grant.
“We’ve been fighting very hard to find every possible available funding source for these items,” she added.
The grant was awarded through the Department of State’s Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) Program, which is granted to help redevelop blighted properties in areas with real or perceived environmental conditions.
The town square public space project is the centerpiece of Riverhead Town’s downtown revitalization efforts. The town purchased three buildings in 2020 on the south side of East Main Street opposite the Suffolk Theater, and knocked down two of the buildings last year to make way for the square.
The grant award for the riverfront playground project adds another $200,000 to the $245,000 that the project received through the $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant award it received in January.
The grant is the first funding for the amphitheater project, which was recommended for funding through the DRI award, but did not receive any money.
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Thomas said the DRI process helped the town secure the funding, since the Department of State became more familiar with the projects through the DRI public engagement process. She said the town was encouraged to apply for funding for the projects during the DRI project selection process.
The town square plaza area received $3.24 million in funding from the DRI award. Riverhead designated J. Petrocelli Development Associates the master developer of the town square project earlier this year. Petrocelli’s proposal includes a boutique hotel on the east side of the square to replace the last town-owned building purchased in 2020. A master development agreement is being negotiated with Petrocelli and is expected to be revealed early in 2023.
Denise Civiletti contributed reporting.
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