Town square project moves forward, with goal of construction bidding next year

The development of the town square advanced this week with the hiring of a landscape architect and its team of consultants to design the town square and streetscape improvements and prepare the documents needed for permitting and bidding.

LVF Landscape Architects of New York City and its subcontractors will work with the town-designated master developer for the town square, J. Petrocelli Development Associates, which will construct the improvements.

The town square project was conceptualized in 2020 by the consulting firm Urban Design Associates. The concept called for opening up Main Street to the riverfront on property opposite the Suffolk Theater and the development of town square and a riverfront park. The vision took shape to include an amphitheater and a children’s adaptive playground, a playground fully accessible to children of differing abilities. 

Town officials hail the town square project as pivotal to downtown revitalization and the future vitality of the downtown business district and community. The plans contributed to the town’s success in receiving a $10 million downtown revitalization initiative grant from the state in January 2022. The funding is being parceled out according to a strategic investment plan developed by a local planning committee with the assistance of the N.Y. Department of State later that year. Approximately $3.5 million of the $10 million grant will fund the town square, waterfront park, playground and coastal resiliency projects sponsored by Riverhead Town.

The town demolished two of the three buildings and plans to convey the third building to J. Petrocelli Development Associates, a company headed by Joe Petrocelli, a principal in numerous projects in downtown Riverhead, including the aquarium/marina/Hyatt Place hotel and historic restorations at the Preston House, the Howell House and the East Lawn building. The Town Board designated J. Petrocelli Development Associates as master developer for the town square project in April 2022.

The Town Board Tuesday night approved an agreement with LV FLandscape Architects that spells out responsibilities and deliverables for the project, which is expected to progress to the final bidding stage in mid-January 2025. 

LVF was awarded a separate contract in January for the planning, design and engineering of the children’s adaptive playground on the riverfront.

The agreement approved this week calls for the town to pay LVF a total fee of $501,156. LVF’s professional fee for services totals $180,250, according to the agreement.  Nearly half of the professional fees spelled out in the agreement will be paid by LVF to Long Island-based Cameron Engineering. Other consultants to be hired by LVF include an estimating firm, a lighting design firm, a project engineering consultant, and a soil science firm.

The proposal included in the agreement attached to the Town Board resolution Tuesday included a provision spelling out “reimbursable expenses” that would be billed to the town. The proposal was not correct, Town Attorney Erik Howard said. Reimbursement of expenses is not allowed by the grant, he said, and an amended proposal was submitted to the town by LVF on March 22, with the paragraph concerning “reimbursable expenses” stricken.

The LVF contract approved Tuesday night, states the design of the town square and streetscape improvements “will run concurrently with the Riverfront Adaptive Playground project.” For permitting purposes, the adaptive playground and the town square will be treated as a single project, while separate permitting documents will be prepared for the State Department of Transportation regarding the streetscape improvements. The streetscape improvements will include a signalized crosswalk, according to the contract.

Also on Tuesday night, the Town Board established a capital project budget for the adaptive playground in the amount of $200,000 for engineering professional services. The source of the funding is a Brownfield Opportunity Area grant awarded to the town in December 2022 for “predevelopment activities, including the planning, design and engineering” of the playground. Another $200,000 from the same source was awarded to the town for the amphitheater planning, design and engineering. A separate capital project budget was established for the amphitheater Tuesday night as well.

The town is still working on the master development agreement with Petrocelli, Town Attorney Erik Howard said yesterday. That agreement, being drafted by Deputy Town Attorney Annemarie Prudenti, will spell out the responsibilities of the master developer as well as the property to be conveyed to the developer by the town and the price the developer will pay for it, Howard said. It will be filed with the town clerk for public review and a subsequent public hearing, he said.

Editor’s note: This article has been amended to include new information provided by the town attorney on March 22 concerning an error in the LVF proposal, dated March 8, attached to the agreement approved by the Town Board on March 21. The March 8 proposal erroneously included a provision requiring the town to reimburse LVF for specified expenses and was stricken from a revised proposal submitted to the town March 22 to correct the error, Town Attorney Erik Howard said.