A downtown parking garage and a new Long Island Science Center museum were among four projects in Riverhead that have been awarded grant funding from Suffolk County.
A town-sponsored multi-story parking garage project planned for First Street behind the Suffolk Theater, which will provide an estimated 500 spaces and cost more than $20 million, received a $2 million grant award.
The Long Island Science Center, which is planning to restore the vacant former Sweezy’s building on the west side of the town square for a new museum, received $1 million from the county.
The Vail-Leavitt Music Hall, the 19th century historic theater on Peconic Avenue, received $250,000.
The New York Marine Rescue Center, a nonprofit focused on the rehabilitation of marine mammals and sea turtles working out of the Long Island Aquarium, received $100,000.
The grant awards were announced by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone today at the Vail-Leavitt, which is now under the control of the Riverhead Town Board. The town brought a lawsuit against the Council for the Vail-Leavitt, the nonprofit organization that ran the theater, starting a legal battle that ended with the organization’s board resigning and handing over the building and its organization to the town.
MORE COVERAGE: Vail-Leavitt board calls it quits, won’t contest Riverhead Town’s lawsuit, hands over keys, corporate seal and legal documents to town
“We recognize that our long-term economic prosperity is dependent on the success and vibrancy of our downtowns,” Bellone said, surrounded by the grant recipients, Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey and Suffolk County Legislature Minority Leader Jason Richberg. “These are the places, we know, that are at the heart of our communities. This is where we gather for parades and celebrations and to support the cultural arts,” Bellone said.
“By investing in our downtowns, we are supporting all of the small businesses there,” the county executive said. “Our downtowns are the places that we have the vibrancy that we need to keep young people here in our region, who are critical to the economy.”
The awards were a part of Suffolk County’s JumpStart and JumpSMART programs to support downtown areas and regional tourism. The programs are funded through the county’s capital program and through federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Deputy Supervisor Devon Higgins expressed her thanks to Bellone for his “unwavering belief and determination in our downtown revitalization effort.”
She said the parking garage is a “critically important piece of the downtown revitalization puzzle.” The parking garage project is pivotal to the town square project, which will be built on what is currently a public parking lot and increase the parking necessary for the downtown area. For the last few years, Riverhead Town has applied for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s RAISE infrastructure grant to partially fund the garage, but has so far come up empty. Community Development Director Dawn Thomas, who leads the town’s grant writers, has said the town will apply again to the USDOT to secure more public money for the parking garage.
“This will ensure downtown Riverhead is a year-round destination for family fun and entertainment and funding of this nature will bring us that much closer to accomplishing this goal,” Higgins said.
Higgins said the grant for the Vail-Leavitt will allow for “critical repairs” to the building that “will allow the facility to get back up and running as a vibrant addition to Riverhead’s culturally and historically rich downtown.”
“In addition, Supervisor Aguiar and the Town Board are currently taking steps to ensure the theater is led by a group of individuals who will bring a unique set of experience and knowledge needed to run a successful, long-lasting theater operation that will complement downtown Riverhead,” Higgins said.
The exact future of the Vail-Leavitt is unknown. The Town Board is scheduled to vote next week to appoint themselves as temporary board members of the Council for the Vail-Leavitt.
Cailin Kaller, the science center’s executive director, was elated after the ceremony. “I mean, you don’t often get a phone call for a million dollar giant check,” she said with a laugh. “The board is absolutely thrilled. We’re thrilled.”
“It was a complete surprise that we were able to get this far and get this type of award that is really going to be transformative for us moving forward,” Kaller said. “We’re really excited.”
The grant will go towards the first phase of its new museum on East Main Street, which includes renovating the first floor of the old Sweezy’s building, Kaller said. The science center is currently operating out of a storefront at Tanger Outlets. Kaller said the new award brings the grants the organization has received to roughly $4.5 million, which will have to be matched by the science center through other fundraising.
The announcement of more grant funding for downtown projects comes after the town received a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative grant last year. That grant will help fund several town sponsored projects, as well as major private development initiatives downtown. Among the projects funded were improvements to the new town square and a public park and playground on the waterfront connected to the square.
The town’s local planning committee for the initiative had recommended $13.4 million, but could only fund $9.7 million in projects. The Long Island Science Center, considered key to downtown revitalization and the town square, was passed over by the state for the $1 million award the committee had recommended it receive.
The county also announced during a separate press conference that it would allocate $5 million from the county’s water infrastructure fund towards the Riverside Sewer District project in Southampton Town. The sewer district is considered key to Southampton Town’s revitalization plan for the area, which calls for high-density mixed-use development in portions of the Riverside hamlet.
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Southampton Town last year received $5 million in federal funding and approved the expenditure of $2.5 million in Community Preservation Fund money for the construction of the district’s wastewater treatment facility. The town has also lined up no-interest financing for the project. The total project is estimated to cost about $20 million to build.
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