East End Arts and DXA Studio unveiled a conceptual redesign Thursday for the organization’s East Main Street campus that would raise and relocate its historic buildings to protect them from flooding while creating a more accessible arts and gathering space in downtown Riverhead.
The presentation, delivered at the Riverhead Town Board work session, outlined a first phase focused on elevating the buildings to street level and reorganizing the campus layout while preserving all of the historic structures.
“This first phase is about protecting the historic buildings that have defined East End Arts for decades while creating a campus that is more accessible, connected and central to Riverhead’s new downtown,” East End Arts and Humanities Council Executive Director Wendy Weiss said.
Riverhead Town owns the East End Arts property. Through a grant-funded study, the town engaged DXA Studio to work with the East End Arts Council to develop a vision for the site.
More coverage: Here’s what’s in store for the East End Arts campus as Riverhead’s town square takes shape
The project is tied to the town’s larger flood mitigation and downtown redevelopment efforts surrounding the new town square, hotel and residential development now under construction nearby.
“The reason we are working on this project is because we knew we needed to move the buildings at East End Arts up and out of the floodplain so they do not wash away,” Community Development Administrator Dawn Thomas said during the meeting. “The idea became, where should they go? And the idea of having East End Arts really weigh in on that and decide what their future looks like became important.”
The north end of the site, fronting on Main Street, is to be raised to street level. Currently, it sits several feet below the grade of the street.
“By bringing the buildings closer to street level and reorganizing the site, the plan improves visibility, pedestrian access and connections to the surrounding public realm,” East End Arts and DXA Studio said in a joint press release issued after the work session.
Under the proposal, the Davis-Corwin House gallery building would be shifted west while remaining along the Main Street frontage. The Benjamin House, home to the School of the Arts, would remain largely in place but be elevated to the new grade.
The carriage house would be relocated from behind the Corwin House to a new position behind the Benjamin House, while the barn would move to a spot behind the Corwin House. The Fresh Pond schoolhouse would also be moved farther north on the property.
DXA Studio partner Wayne Norbeck said the redesigned campus is intended to preserve the existing open space between the two Main Street buildings while creating a central plaza-like gathering area.
“We wanted to maintain that, and that’s very important, but then to think of almost like a quad and almost like a college campus kind of situation where we end up with a central space which can be used as a plaza or a gathering space,” Norbeck said.
The redesign also lays the groundwork for future phases, including a new gallery and event building envisioned between the historic structures and the riverfront area.
Renderings shown Thursday depicted a modern pavilion-style building designed to provide expanded exhibition space while framing views toward the Peconic River. Plans also call for a connector building between the Benjamin House and carriage house that would include an elevator serving both buildings, addressing longstanding accessibility issues on the campus.
“There’s no accessibility at the moment,” Weiss said during the discussion.
Town officials repeatedly emphasized that the project is part of a broader flood mitigation strategy for the area of downtown Riverhead along the Peconic River, an area prone to frequent flooding.
“Everything that we’re doing, from the town square, East End Arts, the new hotel, everything is flood mitigation,” Council Member Ken Rothwell said.
The southern end of the property near the river would remain largely open and floodable, allowing flexibility for future outdoor performance space, festivals and events. Officials discussed the possibility of an amphitheater or temporary stage setup that could accommodate concerts and other programming.
Council Member Bob Kern praised the proposal as a “game changer” for downtown Riverhead and said the new gallery concepts would better accommodate major art exhibitions.
“It’s very difficult in the older buildings with low ceilings to really appreciate a lot of the art that’s there,” Kern said. “I love the idea of the flexible space.”
Weiss said the organization sees the project as the beginning of a new era for East End Arts.
“Culture and the arts are alive in Riverhead,” she said. “This is all moving closer to that direction, and we’re rowing in the same direction.”
The Town Board indicated support for moving ahead with the next phase of the project, which would involve issuing a request for proposals for engineering and construction planning related to relocating the buildings.
Kern asked how quickly that could move forward. “How many companies are out there that actually do this?” he asked, adding that he thought the number was “very minimal.”
Thomas said she thought the RFP would have a “short window.”
“It’s really for the engineering piece, the construction drawings,” she said. Then the town would go out to bid to hire the company that would actually handle relocating the buildings.
Town square master developer Joe Petrocelli, a principal in the company that is developing the site adjoining the East End Arts campus, joined the discussion to ask about the access road between the East End Arts campus and the adjoining site Petrocelli plans to develop with a five-story mixed-use building, featuring a boutique hotel and condominium units.
“How are we going to separate that access road? We’ll make that look a little better, because that’s just going to be— I don’t know what that’s going to be. It could be pavers. It could be anything right now. So we need to think how we’re going to make that look decent,” Petrocelli said. “Is there going to be a berm? Is there going to be a separation from the access road? Do you have a landscape buffer?”
Petrocelli also asked if the plan is to move the entire Davis-Corwin building.
“Are they using the whole building? Because there’s a lot of parts to that on stilts,” he said, referring to additions to the original building, built around 1840.
Norbeck said that is the plan.
“We use pretty much every inch of any available space, if not for exhibition, then certainly for storage and other operations,” Weiss said.
East End Arts last fall moved its administrative offices and instruction space to a town-owned building at 406 Griffing Avenue, adjacent to Riverhead Town Hall. It held a “farewell reception” at the Andy Tarshis Fine Art Gallery in the Davis-Corwin House on April 11.
Weiss told the Town Board Thursday that the arts council would begin construction Friday on its temporary gallery space at 48 W. Main St. That space, she noted, is across the street from its existing 11 West Gallery, located on the ground floor of Peconic Crossing at 11 W. Main St.
The new temporary gallery will open with East End Arts’ Detour VII exhibition on Saturday, June 13.
“We’re working really hard in the meantime so that we’re not just waiting for this to happen,” Weiss said. “We want to keep things going.”
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