Route 58

Riverhead’s main commercial corridor will soon have another empty “big box” store: Toys “R” Us is planning to wind down operations and close its remaining 735 stores across the U.S., according to documents filed today the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The approximately 5,000-square-foot currently vacant storefront would accommodate a restaurant use with 120 to 160 seats, according to the town planning department. A town board special permit would be required, because the site, developed prior to the master plan rezoning, is located in the Destination Retail zoning district, where restaurants are not permitted.

The final site plan approval granted Thursday allows for the development of the fast-food restaurant on a currently vacant, wooded one-acre lot located between DMV Plaza and Malvese Equipment on the eastern end of Route 58.

The restaurant is scheduled to open its doors in March 2018 in the former Joe's Crab Shack building, located in the shopping center at the intersection of Route 58 and Mill Road.

The developer of the Residence Inn got a sales tax exemption increase and the developer of a proposed medical office on Ostrander Avenue just north of Route 58 got a package of benefits including a five-year property tax abatement.

The presence of Apple Honda founder Irwin Garsten loomed large today as the Route 58 auto dealership celebrated the grand opening of its new showroom.

The 2,265 sq. ft. fast food restaurant is planned for a currently vacant, wooded one-acre lot just west of DMV Plaza.

Riverhead Town is considering sweeping zoning code changes intended to boost farmland preservation by allowing residential development in the Route 58 commercial corridor.

Police said the couple was sitting in their car at about 5:15 p.m. when they were approached by a unknown male who displayed “a box-cutter type knife” and demanded money.

Worried by hundreds of Kmart store closings and billions in losses posted by the retail chain's parent company in the past five years alone, the owner of the Riverhead Kmart store is advertising the space for rent, even though Kmart has a lease through February 2020 and hasn't indicated an intention to vacate.