A developer wants to transform Polonaise Park in Polish Town into new townhouse apartments.
Polonaise Park Place LLC, the owner of the 1.3-acre property, is planning to build 39 three-story townhouse apartments on the site, with parking built partially underground, representatives of the company told Riverhead town officials during a pre-submission conference meeting Tuesday. Each apartment would contain three bedrooms and be rented out for market-rate, officials said during the meeting.
Lael Schultz, the principal of Polonaise Park Place LLC, said he owns a home in Mattituck and has developed housing in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. He chose to develop in Riverhead because he thinks the area lacks housing.
“We believe in workforce housing, where people could afford to live and swing a hammer and teach in a school,” Schultz said.
“We’re at the preliminary stage and we want to make everybody happy. We want to be part of the community. It’s very important to us,” Schultz said. “We live in Mattituck. And Riverhead’s coming back and we believe in the community.”
The park site was purchased by the Polish Town Civic Association in 1994. The civic erected a large red-and-white striped tent on the site and hosted events and concerts there, including the polka dance festival and the coronation of the Polish Town queen during the Polish Fair. The tent was destroyed in a wind storm in 1997. In 1998, the civic association built the large pavilion where the tent had been. The pavilion remains on the sit today. The civic group sold the property in 2020 to Schultz’s company for $675,000.
Polonaise Park is located in the DC-3 zoning use district, which allows townhouses as of right, in addition to a variety of commercial uses, including retail shops, banks, restaurants and offices. Although the property abuts the Long Island Rail Road tracks, it is not within the Railroad Avenue Urban Renewal Area Overlay District, which allows high-density, multistory apartment buildings.
Polish Town may soon get its own revitalization plan, however. Community Development Director Dawn Thomas said during a recent work session that the town would seek a grant to create an urban renewal area and revitalization plan for Polish Town, which would incentivize new development and investment in the area.
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