Riverhead officials celebrate opening of the new Town Hall on West Second Street

Riverhead Town officials unveiled the new Town Hall on West Second Street today, christening it with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and party attended by more than 100 people. 

“Any published author will convey, some chapters are more difficult to write than others,” Supervisor Yvette Aguiar. “Today’s chapter, the new Town Hall chapter, is a result of many rough drafts, many revisions and tireless final edits by countless individuals spanning over two decades.”

“Our new Town Hall is located at this beautiful four level glass and brick building containing approximately 42,000 square feet of floor to ceiling windows, flooding the interior with natural light, while affording panoramic vistas of our downtown along with a state-of-the-art boardroom, and state-of-the-art great conference room, and one of my favorite places downstairs below, a market cafe,” Aguiar said.

Aguiar thanked several town officials for coordinating the relocation of town offices at Town Hall, including Council Member Bob Kern, Purchasing Agent Teresa Baldinucci, Network and Systems Administrator Chip Kreymborg and Office Assistant Natalie Prevette. 

Kern thanked the town’s engineering and buildings and ground staff, as well as Joe Petrocelli, whose company, J. Petrocelli Contracting was hired by the town in April as the project’s construction manager.

Aguiar in her 2024 budget message called the relocation of town offices to the building, built in 2002, the town’s “most notable accomplishment” this year.

“This location and its proximity to our downtown is a synergy to a perfectly revitalization effort,” Aguiar said. “Located 500 walking steps from our downtown Main Street, Town Hall is now the perfect complement to the ongoing downtown revitalization efforts currently underway.”

Brookhaven Supervisor Ed Romaine, Southold Town Council Member Jill Doherty and Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski gave remarks congratulating the town on the new Town Hall. Aides to Rep. Nick LaLota, Assembly Member Jodi Giglio and State Sen. Anthony Palumbo also gave congratulations to town officials. Suffolk County Comptroller John Kennedy and Suffolk County Legislator Leslie Kennedy were also on hand for the celebration.

Town officials bought the properties on which the new Town Hall and other buildings are located from Peconic Bay Medical Center Foundation for $20 million in January. PBMC decided to sell the campus after purchasing the former McGann-Mercy High School campus adjacent to the hospital. PBMC Foundation chairperson Emilie Roy Corey and former PBMC President and CEO Andrew Mitchell were on hand for the ceremony. Corey helped Aguiar cut the ceremonial ribbon.

The town funded the purchase price price, plus an estimated $1.5 million in renovation costs with bond anticipation notes, to be converted to bonds at a later date.

The building was built as a headquarters for Suffolk County National Bank before the bank’s parent company, Suffolk Bancorp was acquired by People’s United in 2016. The property includes the bank branch building on the corner of Roanoke Avenue and West Second Street, which is currently occupied by M&T Bank. It also includes an unoccupied two-story brick building on the corner of Second Street and Griffing Avenue, as well as a large parking lot on the northern portion of the site, with access from Railroad Avenue and Roanoke Avenue. The transaction between the town and the hospital also includes a separate parcel on Griffing Avenue improved with a currently unoccupied historic home previously converted for office use.

Attendees, which included prominent local former and current government officials, as well as business people and residents, were invited to walk through the building and enjoy refreshments and food.

Town Hall’s first floor is occupied by offices of the town clerk, tax receiver, assessor and the code enforcement division. A new Town Board meeting room is also on the first floor. Aguiar has said public meetings will continue to be held at the old Town Hall at 200 Howell Avenue until further notice. 

The second floor holds the offices of the fire marshal, building department, planning department, purchasing department, community development department and human resources.

The third floor contains the offices of the supervisor, town council members, town attorney, accounting department and information technology department. A large “executive conference room” is attached to the supervisor’s office. Several smaller conference rooms are also spread throughout the building.

The basement level is to be occupied by the town historian and also has a space built out for a cafe and marketplace. It will also be used for storage.

Town employees said the new offices give them more space. Most are still settling into the building after a moving company transported files and furniture to the new building last week; many are still unpacking boxes in their offices. The new building allows the town to consolidate under one roof town departments that had been relocated from the old Town Hall building on Howell Avenue to other sites, including the planning and building departments, the fire marshal and code enforcement offices, and the accounting department.

“It’s very nice because we have more room and better facilities. Everybody’s together in one building, so this way the public doesn’t have to run around to different buildings around the town,” Chief Fire Marshal Craig Zitek said. “And then also for conferences and meetings, that works out well because you’re just on the same floor or up a floor or down a floor, as opposed to running from one building to another to make various meetings.“

The old Town Hall on Howell Avenue is slated to become the new town justice court, which will allow the police department to expand its quarters in the current building it shares with the court at 210 Howell Avenue, next door to the old Town Hall. The old Town Hall is in a state of disrepair, needing a new HVAC system and a new roof, as well as renovations to make it compliant with courthouse safety standards and to allow it to accommodate justice court offices. Town officials have neither begun the process of soliciting professional services for designing or renovating 200 Howell Avenue into a justice court, nor authorized bonding to cover the cost of any improvements.

The future justice court building will be dedicated to the late Town Justice Allen Smith in a ceremony later this month.

RiverheadLOCAL photos by Alek Lewis