Science Center’s last-minute bid fails as town advances acquisition of Main Street building

In a last-minute bid to stop the Town Board from authorizing the acquisition of its East Main Street building, the Long Island Science Center submitted a 92-page packet of engineering reports, correspondence and project records to the board Tuesday.

With Supervisor Jerry Halpin and Council Member Bob Kern dissenting, a divided board voted to authorize the town to pursue acquisition of the property through eminent domain, the legal process governments can use to acquire private property without a willing seller.

The resolution adopted Tuesday authorizes the town to pursue acquisition of 111 E. Main St. “for general municipal purposes.”

The vote followed an extended public discussion in which science center supporters argued the nonprofit’s long-delayed redevelopment project remains viable and should be allowed to proceed, while a majority of board members said the building has remained vacant too long and now stands in the way of the larger town square project.

Alex Lipsky, the science center’s construction manager, submitted a paper copy of the packet during Tuesday’s meeting and said a digital version had been sent to the town clerk that morning. The materials were meant to show the nonprofit was still advancing the project through the design and permitting process and to counter the board majority’s claim that the effort had stalled. They included a structural engineer’s evaluation of the building, project drawings, correspondence with town officials and a timeline prepared last week by DXA Studio.

MORE COVERAGE: Science center pitches new phased plan as Riverhead considers eminent domain (April 3, 2026)

“This project does not move forward without the town’s support,”  Lipsky told the board. “And the Long Island Science Center knows that we have the financing, we have the team, we need the town.”

But town officials and board members supporting the resolution pointed to a competing record built up over the past two years.

That record includes a November 2023 notice of violation for a possible unsafe structure and a March 26, 2024 building department letter stating that no corrective action had been taken on the earlier violation. That letter described flood-related damage in the basement and first floor, corrosion to structural and mechanical components, crumbling bricks and concrete, large cracks and gaps in parts of the building, and said the town could not approve the pending permit application for first-floor alterations without structural analysis and repair.

The science center’s packet sought to directly answer those concerns. Among the documents was a January 2025 structural evaluation by Pacifico Engineering, which concluded that the building is “structurally sound.” The report did not depict a problem-free property. It documented moisture intrusion, corrosion, roof concerns and other repair needs, and warned that long-term water exposure could eventually cause structural damage if not corrected. But it directly contradicted the town’s claim that the building is structurally unsound.

MORE COVERAGE: L.I. Science Center: Town is obstructing museum plans, as Riverhead inches closer to taking Main Street building (March 18, 2025)

Tuesday’s debate reflected those competing narratives.

Supporters of the science center urged the board to keep working with the nonprofit, arguing that the building can still serve as a downtown destination and that the newly submitted records show the project is active, funded and technically feasible.

But Council Members Denise Merrifield, Ken Rothwell and Joann Waski said the town has already given the organization ample time and that the continued delay threatens the broader downtown revitalization effort. 

The building “has remained just that vacant and blighted for six years now,” Merrifield said. “My position is they have no credibility left with regard to their promise to build.”

Rothwell said he supports the science center as an institution but does not believe the organization can complete the project at that location. It has been “a pipe dream all along,” he said. 

Waski said the board had already given the nonprofit another year. “The Science Center came to us a year ago and begged and said, please give us a chance, and we did that, and it got us nowhere,” Waski said.

“We can’t keep dragging this out. This is bad for our downtown. It’s a bad look. It’s hurting the businesses down there,” she said.

Councilman Bob Kern and Supervisor Jerry Halpin voted no.

Kern said he still views the science center as an important placemaker and believes its recent submissions and progress warranted more consideration. “The Science Center is an absolute yes. This resolution is an absolute no,” Kern said.

Halpin said he wanted additional discussion and raised concerns about imposing further financial burdens on taxpayers.

“I wish we would have tabled this and had them back in on Thursday,” Halpin said before voting. No member of the board, including the supervisor, made a motion to table the resolution.

Tuesday’s vote did not itself start an eminent domain proceeding. Rather, the resolution reaffirmed the board’s 2024 authorization for the town to pursue acquisition of 111 E. Main St. for “general municipal purposes,” allowing officials to continue taking preliminary steps toward a possible acquisition.

It authorizes and directs the town attorney to take steps needed to advance the acquisition effort, including obtaining updated appraisals, surveys, engineering reports, title searches and title insurance. It also authorizes the town attorney to re-engage outside counsel, the Riverhead law firm of Smith, Finkelstein, Lundberg, Isler and Yakaboski, under the 2024 retainer agreement, to pursue the legal action. 

Riverhead resident John McAuliff questioned that point before the vote, asking whether the board’s action would allow the town to “go ahead to eminent domain” or whether there would first be “a public hearing to discuss moving into eminent domain” on the science center property.

Town Attorney Erik Howard said after the vote that the town would still have to hold a public hearing before proceeding further.

The town in May 2025 halted the acquisition process, even canceling a scheduled public hearing, after officials agreed to a two-phase development plan presented by the science center that month.

Under New York’s Eminent Domain Procedure Law, Tuesday’s vote is only an early step in the process. Before the town could acquire the property, it would have to hold a public hearing, issue formal findings on the public purpose for the project, and give opponents a chance to challenge those findings in court. If the process continues beyond that point, the property must be appraised and the town would have to make a written offer of just compensation based on that valuation, with the offer set at no less than its highest approved appraisal.

The Place for Learning, the nonprofit operating as the Long Island Science Center, bought 111 E. Main St. in 2020 for $1.45 million after selling its former West Main Street location in 2016. At the time, the move was celebrated by town, county and state officials as a major step in downtown revitalization, with then-Supervisor Yvette Aguiar calling the project a “heart transplant for Riverhead.”