Riverhead moving on eminent domain actions targeting Craft’d bar, L.I. Science Center building

Riverhead Town is moving forward with eminent domain proceedings to buy out the lease of the downtown bar Craft’d and acquire the East Main Street building owned by the Long Island Science Center, according to resolutions on the Town Board’s agenda today.

The two actions, if successful, would allow the town to convey the two buildings on either side of a new town square, the centerpiece of Riverhead’s downtown revitalization initiative, to private developers for demolition and redevelopment. Plans for the town square project include a boutique hotel and condominiums, a public plaza, a playground and an amphitheater.

The Long Island Science Center purchased the building at 111 East Main Street in April 2020 for $1.45 million. Then-Supervisor Yvette Aguiar at the time hailed the purchase as a “heart transplant” for downtown Riverhead. The science center’s plans for the building, unveiled at a press conference in February 2020, would provide space for interactive exhibits and activities, displays and classrooms. 

Located west of three buildings the town was then negotiating to buy for the town square project, the science center would “frame” the town square on the west, facing a public space intended to open up the Peconic Riverfront to Main Street. Riverhead Town in 2021 purchased the three buildings adjacent to the science center on the east. It demolished two of them, creating a green space that would later be developed as a public plaza.

The third building, at 127 East Main Street, was left in place. The two-story building with two ground-floor storefronts and offices above, cost the town $2.65 million. It was partially occupied by tenants. One of the storefronts was leased to Craft’d when the town bought the building. The other storefront is now an office shared by the Riverhead Chamber of Commerce and the Riverhead Business Improvement District Management Association, which took occupancy after the town bought the building.

MORE COVERAGE:

Riverhead authorizes purchase of Main Street buildings to create a town square

Town takes title to Main Street buildings for development of town square

The Town Board will vote at its meeting this afternoon on two resolutions to schedule public hearings on the eminent domain actions for May 21 at 6 p.m., “at which it will afford a reasonable opportunity for all interested persons to make objections and recommendations.” Eminent domain requires the government to provide “just compensation.” A third resolution on today’s agenda authorizes an agreement with real estate appraiser Goodman-Marks Associates, Inc. to prepare appraisal reports for both properties.

Long Island Science Center President Larry Oxman has accused town officials of obstructing the nonprofit’s plan to build a new museum. He said officials have blocked necessary permits and repairs to renovate the former Swezey’s Department Store building, and are intent on taking the property.

Town building and planning officials, however, say the building is severely damaged and poses a “danger to the public.” The town has denied permits to restore the building. It seeks to sell or lease the property to a developer with the condition that it be demolished and redeveloped consistent with the town’s downtown revitalization goals — such as a mixed-use condominium and hotel, similar to what’s proposed across the town square, according to town documents.

MORE COVERAGE: L.I. Science Center: Town is obstructing museum plans, as Riverhead inches closer to taking Main Street building

In an emailed statement Monday, the science center’s board of directors said they were “extremely surprised” to learn of the resolutions advancing the eminent domain action.

“This particularly was upsetting after the board president asked the Riverhead Town supervisor at the last Town Board meeting if they could come in for a work session to discuss how the town and science center could work together to create an exciting regional attraction to educate school children and attract visitors from all over Long Island and beyond,” the statement said.

“The supervisor instructed the board president to contact his office to set up a meeting. Although the science center contacted the supervisor’s office the next day, a meeting has yet to be scheduled [by] the town. The board is hopeful the town will table the resolution to give us time to work together.”

While the town already owns 127 East Main Street, it must acquire the leasehold interest from Craft’d’s operating entity, SNR Bar 25 Corp, in order to transfer the building to the town square’s master developer, J. Petrocelli Development Associates. The developer and town plan to demolish the building and construct a hotel and condominiums on the site.

Craft’d co-owner Sean Kenna said there are several years remaining on the bar’s lease, and that town officials have not contacted his lawyer about a potential buyout. He learned about the resolutions from a reporter, he said.

“We invested a lot of money into that building, being told that it was going to stay — and now it’s going,” said Kenna, who also co-owns Cucina 25, a downtown Italian restaurant. Kenna and his partner opened Craft’d in 2019.

Kenna said officials previously discussed moving Craft’d to another downtown location, but that space is currently occupied.

“But the town wants them out, and they want to put me there,” he said, declining to name the existing business. “Nothing has been cemented or anything.”

Even if a new space is found with a reasonably priced lease, Craft’d would still need to invest in remodeling, as it did before, Kenna said.

Craft’d is the busiest bar downtown at night, Kenna said. “Everybody closes early. We’re the only place open.” The bar stays open until midnight on weekdays and Sundays, and until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

“The place is full almost every night. All the chairs are taken,” he said.

Kenna, who also serves as president of the Riverhead BID Management Association, said Craft’d draws a wide crowd — from middle-aged patrons who stop in for a drink before attending a show at the Suffolk Theater to younger customers later at night.

“When you have a business that’s successful and you have to walk away from it, it kind of sucks,” Kenna said. “But the town will win, no matter what.”

In November, the town’s planning and economic development director, Dawn Thomas, said demolition of 127 East Main Street could begin as early as August 2025, with construction of the town square to follow in September. However, several key benchmarks — including a public-private partnership agreement with J. Petrocelli Development Associates — have not yet been met in the timeline Thomas outlined in November.

Thomas did not respond to a text message Monday requesting an interview about an update on the project’s timeline.

Further complicating the redevelopment effort, the Town Board today is also expected to approve a staging agreement with the developer of a five-story apartment building at 203-213 East Main Street. The agreement would allow the project’s construction crews to store equipment on the southernmost portion of the East End Arts property — where the town plans to build an amphitheater — for up to two years.

The agreement also gives the developer the option to use soils removed from the construction site as payment to the town for use of the staging area. That soil would be stockpiled in the parking lot south of the town square for future use in the town square project.